US to announce $200 million in Ukraine military aid

PENTAGON: The United States is providing up to $200 million in additional military aid for Ukraine in a package expected soon, according to U.S. officials, as the Pentagon continues to dip into its aid arsenal despite Congress excluding new aid for Ukraine in a stopgap spending bill passed last month to prevent a government shutdown.

The package includes weapons for air defense such as the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile, artillery munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), TOW anti-tank missiles, and 155mm and 105mm rounds, according to a U.S. official who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity to discuss the package prior to its announcement.

It also includes small arms ammunition, demolition munitions to push through Russian obstacles, counter-drone equipment and electronic warfare equipment.

This marks the 48th time the U.S. has used the presidential drawdown authority to provide Ukraine’s military with equipment from U.S. stockpiles.

The U.S. has provided about $44 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked invasion in February 2022.

The Pentagon still has about $5 billion of congressionally approved funding for Ukrainian military aid, after the Pentagon discovered in June that it had overestimated the value of weapons shipped to Ukraine by about $6 billion.

When calculating its aid package estimates, the Defense Department was counting the cost incurred to replace the weapons given to Ukraine, while it should have been totaling the cost of the systems actually sent, officials told VOA at the time the error was found.

The aid package comes as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will host another meeting Wednesday in Brussels of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a group of allies that support Ukraine.

Last month, Congress did not include aid to Ukraine as part of a bill passed to keep the government from shutting down due to opposition from a faction in the Republican Party.

Soon after the bill passed, the House ousted Kevin McCarthy from his position as speaker.

The House has yet to vote on a new speaker, and new aid for Ukraine could hinge on who is selected. One of the top candidates supports continued aid for Ukraine. The other does not.

(VOA)