US officials said the United States, which is preparing to receive Ukraine’s president on Wednesday, will send new military aid, including Patriot missiles for the first time, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The same sources, who asked not to be named because details of the aid have not yet been released, added that in addition to the Patriots, the package will include precision bombs for combat aircraft, in an expansion by the type of advanced weaponry it will send to Ukraine to bolster the country’s air defenses against what has been a growing barrage of Russian missile attacks.
The package, which is expected to be announced during the day, will include almost 1,000 million dollars (942 million euros) in weapons from the Pentagon arsenals and another 800 million dollars (753 million euros) in financing through the Ukrainian Security Assistance, which finances weapons. , ammunition, training and other assistance, added the same sources, cited by the AP.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials in the country have been pressing Western leaders to provide more advanced weapons, including Patriot, the most advanced surface-to-air missile system supplied by the West to Ukraine to help repel airstrikes. russians.
The timing of the military aid announcement comes as Zelensky is about to begin his first visit outside of Ukraine since the war broke out in February, sending a strong message of continued US support for Ukraine as the war drags on.
This aid also comes when Congress is about to approve another 44.9 billion dollars (42 billion euros) in aid to Ukraine.
On the other hand, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned that the delivery of the advanced surface-to-air missile system would be considered a provocation and that the Patriots and the crews accompanying them would be a legitimate target for the Moscow military.
For Washington, strengthening support for Ukraine does not mean going to direct war with Russia.
Training to maneuver the Patriot missiles can take several weeks and will be conducted by US troops at the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany. To date, all US and Western training of Ukrainian forces has taken place in European countries.
The aid package will also include an unspecified number of Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAMs, rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, thousands of artillery munitions, trucks and HARM air-to-surface anti-radiation missiles, it said. the same. officials, quoted by AP.
According to the authorities, the urgent requests of the Ukrainian leaders and the destruction of the energy supply infrastructure of the country, essential during the winter, ended up exceeding the US reserves in terms of supplying the Patriots.
Source: TSF
