Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday (2) that the United States will soon announce more than $2.3 billion in military aid to Ukraine.
“This package under presidential withdrawal authority will provide new air defense interceptors, anti-tank weapons and other critical munitions from U.S. stockpiles,” Austin said in a meeting with Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
“It will also enable the United States to acquire more Patriot air defense interceptors and NASAMs, which will be provided on an accelerated schedule by resequencing deliveries for some Foreign Military Sales,” he added.
It was unclear how much of the $2.3 billion would fall under the Presidential Withdrawal Authority (PDA), which removes equipment from U.S. stockpiles, or under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which allows the U.S. to purchase equipment and systems from the country’s defense industry.
The US has been announcing regular packages for Ukraine since Congress passed legislation authorizing nearly $61 billion in aid to Ukraine earlier this year.
The United States has put Ukraine at the top of the list to receive air defense capabilities, ahead of other countries.
A White House official told CNN at the time that, in private discussions, “many of these countries understood and appreciated the need for this decision”.
“If any of our partners were in an existential situation like the one Ukraine is in right now, we would move heaven and earth to help them, and it just so happens that right now that country is Ukraine,” the official said.
The announcement comes just weeks after the US and Ukraine signed a long-term bilateral security pact that commits the United States to 10 years of training Ukraine’s armed forces, providing military assistance and increasing intelligence sharing.
The statement also comes a week ahead of a NATO summit in Washington, DC.
The US Defense Secretary said on Tuesday (2) that the country would “take steps to build a bridge to Ukraine’s accession to NATO”.
Ukraine’s defense minister thanked Austin for his help and said Ukraine used the support to deter Russia, “to stop the aggression against people, against our values, against national interests.” He said he hoped to discuss Ukraine’s future membership in NATO.
“We hope that Ukraine will soon receive its invitation,” Umerov said of NATO.
Source: CNN Brasil
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