TARA COPP
The United States announced $1 billion in additional security aid for Ukraine on Monday that includes ammunition for much-anticipated air defense systems that Kyiv has said are critical to defending against long-range Russian missile attacks.
The package also includes thousands of rounds of ammunition for the ground artillery and rocket systems that are defining the current ground battle. The package includes another 75,000 rounds of 155 mm artillery, 1,000 Javelin anti-tank weapons, HIMARS ammunition, and, for the first time, medium-range air-to-air missiles (AMRAAM) for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile defense capabilities Ukraine will get from Norway.
“Right now the priority is to make sure that the Ukrainians have the ammunition to keep them in the fight,” said Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy.
In the almost six months since Russia invaded, Kahl said as many as 70,000 to 80,000 Russian troops have been hurt or killed in what he called “the most intense conventional conflict in Europe since the Second World War.”
“The focus is really shifting to the south,” Kahl told reporters at the Pentagon on Monday. “And in part that's because the Ukrainians are starting to put some pressure down south and the Russians have been forced to redeploy their forces down there.
Ukraine has not released its casualty numbers.
The NASAMS are a NATO system that the U.S. is contracting with Norway to provide, but they have not been sent yet and “will probably arrive in the next few months,” Kahl said.
The AMRAAM missiles to arm them will come from U.S. inventory, Kahl said.
This latest package of weapons and supplies brings the total to $9.8 billion in aid the BIden administration has provided Ukraine.
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