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 armored medical transport trucks.
The package, which would increase the $8.8 billion in help the United States has provided Ukraine since Russia’s invasion on February 24, is anticipated to be unveiled as early as Monday.
The officials said that President Joe Biden had not yet signed the subsequent arms deal while speaking on the condition of anonymity. They issued a warning that before they are signed, weapons packages may change in value and substance.
However, if it were signed in its present form, it would be worth $1 billion and contain up to 50 M113 armored medical transports, ammo for NASAMS surface-to-air missile systems, and munitions for HIMARS.
The new plan comes after the Pentagon recently decided to permit Ukrainians to receive medical care at a U.S. military facility in Germany close to Ramstein air base.
Regarding the package, the White House chose not to comment.
The new package would be paid using the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which allows the president to order the transfer of goods and services from U.S. inventories in response to an emergency without obtaining congressional consent.
HIMARS are important players in the artillery battle between Ukraine and Russia in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine, which has been characterized as “grinding” with minimal front line movement.
Since Putin’s “special military operation” in February, when Russian forces rushed across the border, the conflict has devolved into an attrition battle fought mostly in Ukraine’s east and south.
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 armored personnel carriers were previously promised by the US to Ukraine.
The armored 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.
