Additional Ukraine security aid announced amid Biden's surprise visit

By Tony Bertuca / February 20, 2023 at 11:11 AM

The Defense Department, coinciding with President Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine, has announced a $460 million military aid package that includes additional long-range ammunition and Javelin anti-tank weapons.

The package, funded through presidential “drawdown” authority, includes:

  • Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems;
  • Additional 155mm artillery rounds;
  • Additional 120mm mortar rounds;
  • Four air surveillance radars;
  • Additional Javelin anti-armor systems;
  • Approximately 2,000 anti-armor rockets;
  • Four Bradley Infantry Fire Support Team vehicles;
  • Two tactical vehicles to recover equipment;
  • Claymore anti-personnel munitions;
  • Demolition munitions;
  • Night vision devices;
  • Tactical secure communications systems;
  • Medical supplies;
  • Spare parts and other field equipment.

The Biden administration has provided about $30 billion in security aid to Ukraine since the start of a Russian invasion in February 2022.

“When Putin launched his invasion nearly one year ago, he thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided. He thought he could outlast us,” Biden said in a statement. “But he was dead wrong.”

Though a vocal minority of Republicans on Capitol Hill want to suspend aid to Ukraine, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) recently returned from a trip to Poland and Romania where he and other lawmakers went to conduct oversight of U.S. aid being sent to Ukraine and said he is “confident” the aid is being tracked and put to good use.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said additional U.S. weapons will continue flowing to Ukraine to prepare for a “spring offensive” to try to dislodge Russian forces.

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