The Biden administration is sending its 47th installment of support to Ukraine since Aug. 2021. The announcement on Thursday, Sept. 22, detailed what resources the Department of Defense will be sending, totaling $325 million.
According to a release from the White House, this package includes resources to help Ukrainian forces defend against “brutal aerial assaults from Russia.”
- AIM-9M missiles for air defense;
- Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
- Avenger air defense systems;
- .50 caliber machine guns to counter Unmanned Aerial Systems;
- 155mm artillery rounds, including DPICM;
- 105mm artillery rounds;
- Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
- Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems;
- Over 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition;
- 59 light tactical vehicles;
- Demolitions munitions for obstacle clearing; and
- Spare parts, maintenance, and other field equipment.
According to the White House, this military assistance package was put together under the Presidential Drawdown Authority for Ukraine.
This package comes after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (CA-R).
Biden is asking Congress to pass an additional $24 billion in funding for Ukraine. In a letter, 29 Republicans expressed opposition to the additional funding.
“Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the United States has appropriated $114 billion in supplemental funding for Ukraine and “countries impacted by the situation in Ukraine,”” the letter read.