The US Defense Department unveiled a fresh $425 million military aid package for Ukraine on Friday, which would include laser-guided weapons to shoot down Russia's drones.
The latest package comprises $125 million in munitions pulled from current US stockpiles, according to a news statement issued by the government on November 3.
Ukraine will get more air defense munitions, ammo for US-supplied rocket systems, artillery rounds, javelins, and anti-tank weapons to aid in its fight against Russian soldiers on its land.
The remaining $300 million will come from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which permits the Biden administration to get armaments from the private sector. This cash will be used to send laser-guided weapons to Ukraine in response to Russia's drone attacks.
According to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, USAI funds are running short as Congress remains divided over the Biden administration's $100 billion supplementary budget request.
“While we do have remaining PDA [Presidential Drawdown Authority] to continue to fulfill Ukraine’s immediate battlefield needs, we’re beginning to provide Ukraine with smaller PDA packages in order to stretch out our ability to support Ukraine for as long as possible,” she told reporters.
The Pentagon also urged Congress to accept the additional cash so that Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself against Russia's attack.
According to the Pentagon, this is the 50th batch of weaponry delivered from US military stocks to Ukraine since August 2021. It comes barely a week after Washington unveiled a $150 million aid package on Oct. 26 that includes weaponry identical to the latest package.
Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, assured reporters on Oct. 26 that the US will stand with Ukraine and "continue to have their backs" in the face of the Russian invasion.
Aside from Ukraine, the US is also supplying weaponry to Israel in its newly erupted fight with Hamas militants.
President Joe Biden has previously dismissed worries that the US has the means to help both Ukraine and Israel while still meeting its own security requirements.
“We’re the United States of America for God’s sake, the most powerful nation in the history—not in the world, in the history of the world,” he said in an Oct. 15 interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” news program.
“We can take care of both of these and still maintain our overall international defense,” President Biden added.
Following Hamas' unprecedented strike on Oct. 7, the Biden administration has already shifted military forces closer to Israel and provided ammunition and interceptors for its Iron Dome defensive system.
Ukraine, on the other hand, has gotten $44 billion in military aid from the US since Russia started its full-fledged invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Unlike in Ukraine, however, Israeli forces are being reinforced by a rising deployment of US warships in the region in deterrent posture geared at Iran and its regional proxies.
After months of appeals from Kyiv for further support with its war effort against Russia, the US agreed in July to supply controversial cluster bombs to Ukraine. At the moment, President Biden told reporters, "We've run out of ammunition," alluding to medium-caliber 155 mm artillery ammunition.
Not just the US, but also Ukraine's European allies, have stated that they are running low on 155 mm ammunition after emptying their supplies in support of Ukraine's defense.
