NEW YORK: The Pentagon will send more ammunition to Ukraine from its stockpiles, including Stinger and Patriot air-defence missiles, guided rockets for HIMARS launchers, and artillery ammunition, defence officials said Tuesday.
The package of aid, the 41st for Ukraine since August 2021, is worth approximately US$500 million and addresses specific needs Ukrainian troops have in their counteroffensive against Russian forces, such as equipment for clearing minefields that have stymied ground advances and more armoured Bradley and Stryker armoured vehicles.
The new aid package was announced in an email sent to reporters on Tuesday afternoon.
In a briefing at the Pentagon shortly afterward, the Defense Department spokesperson, Brig Gen Patrick S. Ryder, described the materiel being sent as adding “important capabilities” that would contribute to Ukraine’s counteroffensive. He declined to address whether the 30 Bradleys and 25 Strykers being sent in the new tranche of aid were meant to replace earlier such vehicles damaged or destroyed in combat with Russian forces.
“What I’m not going to do is battle damage assessment for the Russian military from the podium here, so I’m not going to get into Ukrainian capabilities and their status on the battlefield,” Gen Ryder said. “In the midst of combat, one can expect that equipment will be damaged, that equipment will be destroyed. It is a fight. And it is a hard fight.”
“So by us providing additional armour, capabilities, additional ammunition additional breaching capabilities, that’s all meant to enable them to sustain this fight that they find themselves in,” he added.
The list of items provided by the Pentagon includes more anti-armour missiles and rockets, air-launched missiles for attacking Russian air-defence sites, demolition equipment for “obstacle clearing” as well as mine-clearing equipment.
Ryder declined to address questions about the aborted mutiny of Wagner Group forces in Russia on Saturday in detail, calling it “an internal Russian matter.” No US military forces were repositioned as a result of the turmoil, he said, nor did Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speak with his Russian counterpart over the weekend.
“We’re going to stay focused on giving Ukraine what they need to be successful in defending their country and taking back sovereign territory,” the general said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
