The Biden administration confirmed Tuesday it will send a further $625 million in direct military assistance to Ukraine to help it secure its borders. Advanced HIMAR rocket systems, 155mm Howitzers, armored vehicles, and ammunition top the list deemed critical to Kyiv’s defense against Russia’s invasion.
The aid comes as Americans continue to suffer from the domestic challenges presented by food shortages, inflation, gas prices, and a porous southern border flooding the country with almost five million illegal immigrants.
The United States has now committed more than $17.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, the vast majority of which followed Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, a fact sheet from the Defense Department sets out.
Most of the equipment shipped to Ukraine has been drawn from U.S. military reserves.
As working class Americans struggle to afford groceries, gas, and even find baby formula to feed their children, Joe Biden has sent $40,000,000,000.00 the U.S. does not have to Ukraine. https://t.co/ugwxKxBpDe
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 22, 2022
President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the latest offer during a phone call that detailed high mobility artillery rocket systems, armored vehicles and ammunition, among other lethal equipment, UPI reports.
Biden pledged to Zelensky the U.S. will “continue supporting Ukraine as it defends itself from Russian aggression for as long as it takes,” according to a readout of the conversation from the White House.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Laura Cooper told reporters during a press conference the package for Kyiv will be drawn from U.S. stockpiles, “tailored to meet Ukraine’s immediate needs,” including to “maintain momentum in the east and in the south.”
File/Ukrainian servicemen unpack shipment of military aid delivered as part of the United States of America’s security assistance to Ukraine, at the Boryspil airport, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022. (AP)
U.S. military personnel stand by a M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) during Saudi Arabia’s first World Defense Show, north of the capital Riyadh, on March 6, 2022. (FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)
Within the package are four ultra-mobile HIMAR rocket systems destined to bolster the total number the Biden administration has given Ukraine from its stockpiles to 20. Washington, DC, has also committed an additional 18 that are to come directly from the manufacture once constructed.
Allies have also provided Ukraine with 10 systems with more coming, U.S. officials said.
Tuesday’s package includes 16 155mm Howitzers, 200 MAXXPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles, Claymore anti-personnel munitions and hundreds of thousands of ammunition rounds of various sizes.
Zelensky on Tuesday tweeted his thanks for what he described as “substantial support” for Ukraine.
Biden wants to spend $13.7 billion more in aid to Ukraine as his massive slush fund already approved by Congress earlier this year is running dry. https://t.co/crsgFPEbon
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) September 3, 2022
“Our victories within the ongoing defense operation are a joint success of [Ukraine], [The United States] and the entire free world,” he said.
As Breitbart News reported, while the Biden administration works to help Ukraine, back home voters are more concerned with immediate issues impacting their lives.
Record high gas prices, the economic recession, and soaring crime are the top three issues for voters heading into the November midterm elections, a Rasmussen Reports poll found last month.
