US officials said on Tuesday that the Biden administration was sending $400 million in additional military aid to Ukraine, including artillery, air defense and mine-clearing equipment.
The package, obtained from Pentagon stockpiles, includes several Stryker armored personnel carriers, mine-clearing equipment and munitions for the Patriot antimissile systems and the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, or NASAMS, officials said.
The package includes ammunition for Stinger anti-aircraft systems and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or Himars, as well as ammunition for Javelin and other anti-tank weapons.
The latest military aid comes as Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the country’s southeast advances more slowly than expected through dense Russian minefields and other defenses. Russia has recently launched some of the fiercest attacks of the war on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, after the Kremlin pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allowed Ukrainian grain to be exported by sea.
Earlier on Tuesday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Western allies to supply more air defense equipment after Russian strikes hit cultural sites and port infrastructure in Odessa.
“We must protect Odessa,” Mr. Zelensky said Twitter post After speaking with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, he said, “Ukraine urgently needs to strengthen its air defenses to protect its historical heritage and continue the Black Sea Grain Initiative.”
The new American aid package brings the total amount of US military aid delivered or committed to Ukraine since a full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022 to $43 billion.
