By LOLITA C. BALDOR and MATTHEW LEE, Related Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will present an extra $1.1 billion in assist to Ukraine, with funding for about 18 extra superior rocket programs and different weapons to counter drones that Russia has been utilizing in opposition to Ukrainian troops, the Biden administration introduced Wednesday.
The newest bundle is being supplied below the Ukraine Safety Help Initiative, which funds contracts to buy weapons and tools. And it brings the overall of U.S. assist to Ukraine to just about $17 billion for the reason that Biden administration took workplace.
The help announcement comes as Russia strikes to annex components of Russian-occupied Ukraine that held Kremlin-orchestrated referendums on dwelling below Moscow’s rule. The votes have been denounced by Kyiv and the West as unlawful and rigged.
“We won’t be deterred from supporting Ukraine, we are going to proceed to face with the Ukrainian individuals, and supply them with the safety help they should defend themselves, for so long as it takes,” White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated.
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Because the funding is for contracts for weapons and tools, it’s geared toward serving to Ukraine safe its longer-term protection wants. It might take a 12 months or two for Ukraine to get the programs. The U.S. has used Pentagon drawdown authority to supply weapons extra instantly, and one other announcement for that Protection Division assist is anticipated early subsequent week.
The bundle consists of funding for 18 of the Excessive-Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, and ammunition for them, and 12 Titan programs, that are used to counter drones. Officers have stated the HIMARS and different comparable programs have been key to Ukraine’s battle successes in current weeks. And the Russians have been utilizing Iranian-made drones to focus on Ukrainian forces, underscoring the necessity for extra programs to counter that menace.
Additionally within the bundle is funding for about 300 autos, dozens of vans and trailers to move heavy tools, a wide range of radars, communications and surveillance tools, and different gear for troopers. It additionally will embrace funding for tools to detect explosives and for upkeep and coaching.
The struggle, now in its seventh month, has shifted to a brand new section, as Russia tries to rebound from current fight losses and use the referendums to politically solidify the good points it had made within the 4 occupied areas within the south and east.
Professional-Russia officers in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia areas stated Wednesday they might ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to include their provinces into Russia. It wasn’t instantly clear how the executive course of would unfold.
Jean-Pierre stated the U.S. has decided that Russia falsified the outcomes of the referendums, which it stated confirmed overwhelming help for annexation.
“These so known as referenda have been an train in coercion and disinformation, executed by puppet authorities following orders from Russia,” she stated.
Jean-Pierre signaled that the White Home was making ready new sanctions in opposition to Russia in response to the referendums, saying the U.S. and its allies deliberate to impose a “extreme financial price on Russia once they transfer ahead with annexation.”
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