In response to the Russian military’s latest ‘senseless attacks’ on the civilian population across Ukraine, US President Biden approved on Friday an additional 725M dollars in weapons and equipment for Ukrainian forces to effectively defend the country’s land and people.

On Friday, the Pentagon announced the approval of a Presidential Drawdown of military aid valued at up to USD 725M to meet Ukraine’s defense needs. The latest authorization is the current Administration’s 23rd Drawdown of weapons from Defense Department stockpiles for Kyiv since August last year.

Washington has provided unparalleled military support to Kyiv and would continue to work with its Allies worldwide to confirm that Ukrainian defense forces have the necessary capabilities. In total, Washington has delivered over 18bn dollars in defense aid to the government in Kyiv since Biden took office last year. Furthermore, since 2014, America has sent over 20.3bn dollars in military support, and the U.S. has committed nearly 17.6bn dollars since Putin ordered an unjustifiable invasion late in February.

What is included in $725M defense assistance for Ukraine?

The newest military assistance package includes the following weapons and equipment:

• More Ammunition for M142 HIMARS rocket launchers;
• 23K 155-millimeter artillery shells;
• 5K 155-millimeter shells of RAAM Systems;
• Five Thousand 15-mm precision-guided artillery shells;
• Over two hundred Humvees;
• AGM-88 HARMs Tactical Missile;
• Five Thousand anti-tank weapons;
• More Than two million rounds of small arms ammunition and medical supplies.

Ukraine’s Contact Group Meeting

The latest declaration of defense aid follows Ukraine’s Contact Group meeting on Wednesday and NATO defense ministers’ gathering on Oct. 12 and 13. In addition, the U.S. Defense Secretary met with allies and partners in Belgium to discuss the continued assistance for the security of the post-Soviet state, due to Moscow’s unjustifiable incursion and recent bombardment on civilians.

According to the US Defense official, Moscow’s brutal incursion is not over; the fighting is not over, and neither is the global military support for Kyiv’s right to protect its land and people.

Moreover, the requests from Kyiv for increased air defense assistance after a devastating barrage of missiles from the Russian military on the civilian population, provoked fresh commitments from Paris, Madrid, and the United Kingdom. The U.K. pledged to provide Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, while Spain vowed to send four Raytheon MIM-23 HAWK launchers. In addition, Paris announced that it would send radars and air defense weapons to Ukraine soon.

Bucharest Nine Meeting

On October 14, Lloyd Austin attended the Bucharest Nine (B9) Defense Minister’s gathering in Brussels. Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General of NATO, also attended the B9 event, which was an opportunity to discuss the crisis situation in the East European country and repeat the significance of investing more and shared defense and security.

Polish and Romanian Defense Ministers co-chaired the B9 meeting. Other defense ministers and officials who took part in the event were from NATO partners Bulgaria, Hungary, Estonia, Czech Republic, Poland, Latvia, Romania, Lithuania, and Slovakia.

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