US President Joe Biden announced a new military aid package for Ukraine during the meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris on Friday, 7 June.
Later the Pentagon officially revealed that this package, worth $225 million, will include:
The Pentagon has officially revealed the contents of a new US$225 million military aid package for Ukraine, announced by US President Joe Biden.
The package includes, in particular:
- missiles for HAWK air defence systems;
- Stinger anti-aircraft missiles;
- ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
- 155mm howitzers;
- 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition;
- 81mm mortar shells;
- M113 armoured personnel carriers;
- trailers for transporting heavy equipment;
- coastal and riverine patrol boats;
- TOW anti-tank missile systems;
- Javelin and AT-4 anti-tank systems;
- ammunition and grenades for small arms;
- demolition munitions;
- night vision devices, spare parts, maintenance and other support equipment.
Most of the equipment is US-made, means more investments in American defense industry will come.
The US Ministry of Defense explained the package would provide Ukraine with additional capabilities to meet its most urgent needs on the battlefield.
The White House has previously highlighted that the US permission to use US-supplied weapons applies to the border areas of not only Kharkiv Oblast but also Sumy Oblast.
At the same time, the authorization does not apply to long-range ATACMS missiles.
Same time Germany consider to send another, fourth, Patriot air defense system to Ukraine. This system is critically needed to defend cities like Kharkiv from constant Russian air strikes. Earlier Ukrainian President Zelenskyy told that Ukraine needs at least 7 Patriot systems to defend Ukrainian air space.
However, there is a shortage of expensive and complex missiles for Patriot system. To address this issue a European assembly line for the production of Patriot missiles will appear in Germany, and the Netherlands will participate in it too. The Dutch government announced this decision earlier. “The American manufacturer allowed the production of Patriot missiles in Europe. This will accelerate the pace of the production,” Kajsa Ollongren, Dutch Minister of Defense, said. That will not only help Ukraine, but also significantly increase capabilities of European armies.
Same is with the production of infantry fighting vehicles. The Netherlands will cooperate with Denmark and Sweden to develop CV90 infantry fighting vehicles for Ukraine. €400 million will be allocated for a Swedish fund for constructing these vehicles.
“European production capacities must be increased for Ukraine and for us as well,” Ollongren stated. “Our armed forces must be combat ready, and the time for this is limited,” she noted. So, the production of military equipment for Ukraine is beneficial for Europe – they get equipment for their own armed forces, as well as additional investments and jobs.
