US Is Preparing A New $1 Billion Arms Deal For Ukraine

Three people briefed on the situation told Reuters on Friday that the next security support package from the Biden administration for Ukraine is anticipated to be $1 billion, one of the largest so far, and contain ammunition for long-range weaponry and armoured medical transport trucks.

The plan, which might be revealed as soon as Monday, would increase the $8.8 billion in assistance that the United States has provided to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion on February 24.

President Joe Biden has not yet signed the subsequent weapons deal, according to the sources who requested anonymity. They issued a warning that before contracts are signed, the contents and value of weapons packages can change.

However, if it were signed in its present form, it would be worth $1 billion and contain up to 50 M113 armoured medical transports, ammo for NASAMS surface-to-air missile systems, and shells for HIMARS.

The latest package comes in response to a decision made recently by the Pentagon to permit Ukrainians to receive medical care at a U.S. military facility in Germany close to Ramstein air base.

A separate security support package for Ukraine, worth up to $550 million, was disclosed by the Pentagon on Monday. This package includes more ammo for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).

The White House chose not to respond to questions about the package.

Under the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which allows the president to transfer goods and services from U.S. stocks without congressional permission in response to an emergency, the new package would be funded.

HIMARS play a crucial part in the artillery battle between Russia and Ukraine, which has been characterised as “grinding” and characterised by little movement of the front line in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.

The conflict has devolved into an attrition war fought mostly in Ukraine’s east and south since Russian forces poured across the border in February in what Putin referred to as a “special military operation.”

The Luhansk and Donetsk provinces make up the mostly Russian-speaking Donbas, where pro-Moscow separatists gained territory after the Kremlin annexed Crimea to the south in 2014.

16 HIMARS have already been delivered by the United States to Ukraine, and on July 1 it committed to sending two National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS).

The location of the NASAMS launchers, which were jointly developed by Raytheon Technologies Corp. and Kongsberg of Norway, as well as whether the ammunition was for launchers that another nation had provided or if it was being prepositioned, were unknown.

200 M113 armoured personnel carriers were previously promised by the US to Ukraine.

The armoured personnel carriers with medical equipment could help Ukrainian forces survive the conflict with Russia so that they can be taken to Germany for additional medical care.

In June, the Ukrainian government claimed that daily fatalities among its soldiers ranged from 100 to 200.