US is sending start of $61 billion in weapons and vehicles to Ukraine

Air defense artillery, radars, munitions, weapon systems, and armored vehicles are headed to Ukraine after months of military aid was stalled in Congress amid warnings by senior military officials in early April that the Ukrainians were weeks away from being outgunned by the Russians.

On Tuesday night, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a package to deliver $95 billion in foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The National Security supplemental aid provides roughly $26 billion for Israel, $61 billion for Ukraine and $8 billion for U.S. allies in the Indo-Pacific — namely Taiwan. 

The $1 billion package headed to Ukraine comes after dire warnings by top U.S. military officials in Europe about Ukraine’s fastly depleting artillery and other air defense munitions needed to defend itself against Russia. Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, head of U.S. European Command told Congress two weeks ago that the Ukrainians were being outshot by the Russians five to one with artillery which would go to 10 to one “in a matter of weeks.”

The U.S. has already dedicated more than $75 billion dollars worth of aid to Ukraine for humanitarian, financial, and military support, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a non-partisan think tank. The aid package signed into law on Wednesday is the Biden administration’s 56th tranche of equipment and supplies from DOD inventories sent to Ukraine since August 2021, according to a press release on the items included in the security package.

The Ukraine package will “surge munitions, weapons, and equipment forward to support Ukraine’s ability to defend its frontlines, protect its cities, and counter Russia’s continued attacks,” according to the press release.

President Joseph Biden said Wednesday morning while discussing the package signed into law that there were reports of “cheers breaking out in the trenches of eastern Ukraine” while they watched the House vote to pass the aid package over the weekend.

“[It’s] not like they don’t understand what we’ve done, not like they understand how critical this is for them,” Biden said. “In the next few hours, literally a few hours, we’re going to begin sending in equipment to Ukraine for air defense munitions for artillery for rocket systems and armored vehicles.” 

The package includes:

• RIM-7 and AIM-9M missiles for air defense;
• More than 2,000 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles;
• Small arms and additional rounds of small arms ammunition, including .50 caliber rounds to counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS);
• Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
• 155mm artillery rounds, including High Explosive and Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions rounds;
• More than 800,000 105mm artillery rounds; 
• 58 60mm mortar systems and rounds;
• More than 200 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles;
• 31 Abrams tanks
• More than 1,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs);
• More than 3,000 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs);
• 20 Logistics support vehicles;
• More than 1,000 tactical vehicles to tow and haul equipment;
• More than 9,000 Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
• More than 10,000 Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems;
• Precision aerial munitions; 
• Anti-armor mines;
• Claymore anti-personnel munitions;
• 21 Air surveillance radars
• Two Harpoon coastal defense systems and anti-ship missiles;
• 62 Coastal and riverine patrol boats;
• Unmanned Coastal Defense Vessels;
• SATCOM terminals and services;
• Electronic warfare (EW) and counter-EW equipment;
• Commercial satellite imagery services;
• Unmanned Coastal Defense Vessels;
• Specific Unmanned Aerial Systems like the VAMPIRE, Switchblade, Phoenix Ghost, CyberLux K8, Altius-600, Jump-20, Hornet, Puma, Scan Eagle, Penguin
• More than 100,000 sets of body armor and helmets;

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On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the U.S. would deliver equipment to Ukraine using “a very robust logistics network” and “a variety of means to get capabilities into Ukraine to include from preexisting storage facilities that are located and lots of different places to include Europe.”

“This is directly in the United States national security interest. If Putin tries to triumph in Ukraine, the next move of Russian forces could very well be a direct attack on a NATO ally,” Biden said. “We’d have no choice but to come to their aid, just like our NATO allies came to our aid after the September 11 attacks.”

The package includes billions of dollars worth of air defense for Israel to defend against attacks from Iran, Hezbollah and other proxy groups in the region, Biden said, as well as $1 billion additional for humanitarian aid for Palestinians living in Gaza who are displaced due to the war between Israel and Hamas.

The package also includes humanitarian aid for other places around the world like Haiti, Sudan, and Somalia. 

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