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The United States says it will give Ukraine a new $775 million aid package to help its forces regain territory and mount a counteroffensive against Russian invaders.
A senior U.S. defense official told reporters on August 19 that the package will include 15 Scan Eagle surveillance drones, 40 mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs) with mine-clearing rollers, and 2,000 anti-armor rounds that can help Ukraine’s troops move forward in the south and east, where Russian forces have placed mines.
The aid package also includes 1,500 anti-tank missiles, 1,000 Javelin missiles, and an undisclosed number of high-speed, anti-radiation (HARM) missiles that target radar systems.
It would be the 19th time the Pentagon has provided equipment from Defense Department stocks to Ukraine since August 2021.
“President [Joe] Biden has been clear that we will continue to support the people of Ukraine in defending their country from Russia’s aggression for as long as it takes,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken, adding that the aid brings the administration’s total security assistance to Ukraine to about $10.6 billion.
“These capabilities are carefully calibrated to make the most difference on the battlefield and strengthen Ukraine’s position at the negotiating table,” he said.
The latest aid package comes as Russia’s war on Ukraine is about to reach the six-month mark. Russian forces have made some incremental gains in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists have controlled some territory for eight years.
But they have also been put on the defensive in other regions, as Ukraine has been fielding advanced rockets supplied by the West to strike behind Russian lines.
Nine Russian warplanes were reported destroyed by Ukrainian strikes last week at an airbase on Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.
