KYIV: Hours after Ukraine appealed to its Western allies to send tanks to help its forces defeat Russia, the United States announced more than $2.5 billion in military aid — but no tanks.
The latest U.S. package of weaponry includes 59 Bradley Fighting Vehicles and 90 Stryker armored personnel carriers. The vehicles come with three types of missiles, tens of thousands of artillery and mortar rounds, and additional HIMARS and other air defense systems.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is to meet with his counterparts Friday at Ramstein Air Base, where more aid is to be announced by other countries. But so far, Germany and the U.S. are balking at supplying the Leopard 2 and Abrams tanks Ukraine has requested.
Austin said “we’ll renew our united commitment to support Ukraine’s self-defense for the long haul” at the Ramstein meeting but didn’t mention specific new equipment.
The new U.S. aid package brings American military assistance to Ukraine to almost $27 billion since Russia’s invasion nearly a year ago.
In a joint statement on Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov expressed gratitude toward 50 countries that have helped strengthen Ukraine’s defenses, but they said the Russian military has a “substantial quantitative advantage in troops, weapons and military equipment.”
The officials said one of the most pressing needs in fighting off the Russian invasion that began nearly a year ago is to provide Ukraine with modern armored vehicles and give Ukrainian troops better firing and maneuverability capabilities with Western tanks.
Kuleba and Reznikov welcomed Britain’s move to send its Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, while urging countries that have German-made Leopard 2 tanks to also send them to Ukraine.
“We guarantee that we will use these weapons responsibly and exclusively for the purposes of protecting the territorial integrity of Ukraine within internationally recognized borders,” the ministers said.
A U.S. official who spoke to The Associated Press and a German official who spoke to Reuters said Germany would allow the Leopard 2 tanks to be sent to Ukraine if the United States sends its Abrams tanks, which it has not agreed to do.
U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl told reporters Wednesday that Ukraine needs equipment to help it break through entrenched Russian lines, but the Abrams is not a good fit for Ukraine because of the amount of fuel and maintenance it needs.
(VOA/ Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters)
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