U.S. to ship Ukraine one other $500 million in army gear in newest drawdown

The Biden administration will present Ukraine with $500 million price of firepower like Bradley infantry combating automobiles and Stryker armored personnel carriers by once more reaching into its personal stockpile of army gear, Pentagon officers mentioned Tuesday.

The authorization is the Biden administration’s forty first drawdown of army gear from Defense Department inventories earmarked for Ukraine since August 2021 as Kyiv tried to struggle off a Russian invasion pressure. While Mr. Biden has been cautious to not straight confront Russian forces, the U.S. has been by far the most important army provider to Ukraine for the reason that invasion started in February 2022.

“It’s meant to enable them to sustain this fight that they find themselves in,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Defense Department spokesman, advised reporters. “In the midst of combat, one can expect that equipment will be damaged and that equipment will be destroyed.”

In addition to the Bradleys and Strykers, the newest drawdown consists of extra munitions for Ukraine’s Patriot air protection system and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), in addition to demolition units for clearing obstacles, anti-tank rockets and mine-clearing gear.

“This security assistance package will support Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive operations with equipment directly tailored for Ukraine’s needs on the battlefield today,” Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken mentioned Tuesday in a press release.

The Defense Department insisted Tuesday that there was no connection between the newest drawdown and Wagner Group commander Yevgeny Prigozhin’s gorgeous rise up and aborted march on Moscow over the weekend. Mr. Prigozhin has fled to Belarus and the destiny of his highly effective mercenary pressure continues to be unsure.

“The security situation inside Russia is an internal Russian matter,” Gen. Ryder mentioned. “We were not involved in this [and] we won’t get involved. We’re not at war with Russia and we don’t seek conflict with Russia.”

The heated dispute between Mr. Prigozhin and high Russian army officers, together with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of Russia’s normal workers, to date doesn’t appear to have modified the dynamics of the struggle in Ukraine, the place dug-in Russian forces try to carry off a renewed Ukrainian counteroffensive within the south and east, officers mentioned.