The new US arms shipment would further bolster Ukraine as it mounts a counterattack, which analysts say for the first time could allow Kyiv to shape the course of the rest of the war, now six months into the war. Kyiv intends to push Russian troops out of Kherson and other southern lands near the Dnipro River. Russia has been moving troops and equipment in the direction of the southern port cities in recent days to prevent a Ukrainian counterattack. “At every stage of this conflict, we’ve been focused on getting the Ukrainians what they need, depending on the evolving conditions on the battlefield,” Colin Cull, the undersecretary of defense for policy, said Monday in announcing the new arms shipment. The new US aid includes additional missiles for the High Mobility Artillery Missile Systems, or HIMARS, as well as thousands of artillery shells, mortar systems, javelins and other munitions and equipment. Military commanders and other US officials say the HIMARS and artillery systems have been vital in Ukraine’s fight to prevent Russia from gaining more ground. While the US has already provided 16 HIMARS to Ukraine, Kahl said the new package does not include any additional ones. “These are not systems that we estimate you need in the hundreds to get the type of results” you need, Kahl said. “These are precision guidance systems for very specific types of targets, and the Ukrainians use them as such.” He declined to say how many of the precision guided missile systems for HIMARS were included in Monday’s announcement, but said the US has provided “several hundreds” of them in recent weeks. The latest announcement brings total U.S. security assistance pledged to Ukraine by the Biden administration to more than $9 billion. In his nightly video speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the United States for the package and said “100% we will use it to protect freedom, our common freedom.” Until now, the largest single announcement of a security aid package was $1 billion on June 15. But that aid included $350 million in presidential withdrawal authority and another $650 million under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides funding for training, equipment and other security needs that can be purchased from other countries or companies. Monday’s package allows the US to deliver weapons systems and other equipment more quickly by taking them off Defense Department shelves. In addition to the rockets for the HIMARS, it includes 75,000 155 mm artillery shells, 20 mortar systems and 20,000 shells for them, 1,000 Javelin shoulder rockets and other weapons, explosives and medical equipment. In the last four months of the war, Russia has focused on seizing the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists have controlled some territory as self-proclaimed republics for eight years. Russian forces have made incremental advances in the region while launching rocket and missile attacks to restrict the movement of Ukrainian fighters elsewhere. Kahl estimated that Russian forces have suffered up to 80,000 deaths and injuries in the fighting, although he did not provide an estimated number of forces killed. He said Russian troops had managed to gain “incremental” ground in eastern Ukraine, though not in recent weeks. “But this has come at an extraordinary cost to the Russian military because of the performance of the Ukrainian military and all the help the Ukrainian military has received. And I think now, the conditions in the east have basically stabilized and the focus is really shifting to the south.” The new funding is being paid through $40 billion in economic and security assistance for Ukraine approved by Congress in May. This is the 18th time the Pentagon has provided equipment from Defense Department stockpiles to Ukraine since August 2021. The US and allies are still evaluating whether to supply aircraft to Ukraine, Kahl said. “It’s not inconceivable that Western aircraft down the road could be part of the mix,” he said. Zelensky early in the war made almost daily calls for warplanes, calling them necessary to protect Ukraine’s skies. The US and some other NATO countries feared it could be drawn into more direct involvement in Ukraine’s war against Russia and did not provide Western aircraft. Separately on Monday, the Treasury Department said it was sending an additional $3 billion in immediate financial aid to Ukraine. This is part of a previously approved $7.5 billion in financial aid, with $1.5 billion yet to be disbursed.
Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.
