Topline
President Joe Biden is planning to announce a new military aid package for Ukraine roughly the same size as the $800 million package approved last week, boosting total U.S. military assistance to Ukraine to over $3 billion, CNN and Reuters reported.
Ukrainian military service members move U.S.-made FIM-92 Stinger missiles shipped from Lithuania to … [+]
Key Facts
Some details for the planned military aid package have yet to be worked out, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.
The package might be approved as soon as within the next 36 hours, or it could be delayed for days, CNN reported, citing an unnamed administration official.
Biden told reporters Tuesday the U.S. would send more artillery to Ukraine, supplementing the 18 howitzers included in last week’s military aid package.
The reports emerged hours after Biden held a videoconference with NATO leaders, which White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said included a discussion of providing additional ammunition and security aid to Ukraine.
The previous $800 million military aid package, which was announced April 13, included equipment ranging from 11 Mi-17 helicopters and 300 Switchblade drones to 30,000 sets of body armor and shipments of chemical, biological and nuclear protective gear.
Key Background
U.S. military aid to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion began with shipments of portable anti-aircraft missiles, and has grown to include larger and more sophisticated hardware like armored personnel carriers, laser rangefinders, anti-personnel mines and an array of aerial and aquatic drones. Debates over what to include in Ukraine’s military aid have been influenced by fears that Russia might respond by escalating its aggression. Shortly after the U.S. approved its first $800 million military aid package, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned NATO’s delivery of “most sensitive” weaponry to Ukraine could provoke “unpredictable consequences.” Andrei Kortunov, director of the Kremlin-aligned Russian International Affairs Council, said the U.S. and its allies appeared to be “testing the limits of Russian tolerance when it comes to weapons deliveries,” the New York Times reported. Nonetheless, despite committing alleged atrocities within Ukraine, the Russian military has avoided directly moving against neighboring NATO states like Poland, through which U.S. military hardware has been delivered to Ukraine.
Tangent
In an April 13 interview with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates suggested ramping up efforts to acquire weaponry from former members of the Warsaw Pact, the now defunct Soviet-aligned counterpart to NATO. While transporting heavy equipment from the U.S. has proven difficult and time-consuming, it would be quicker to start “ransacking the arsenals” of former Warsaw Pact states with a promise to replace the hardware later, Gates said. Pentagon officials told the New York Times the U.S. was pursuing a similar strategy, attempting to persuade Slovakia—a former Warsaw Pact member as part of Czechoslovakia—to deliver missile systems to Ukraine.
Further Reading
“Supplying Ukraine Russian-Built Military Hardware Will Help Kyiv And Enhance NATO Interoperability” (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharysmith/2022/04/19/biden-reportedly-planning-another-800-million-in-military-aid-to-ukraine/