US Announces Fresh $2.17 Billion Security Aid Package For Ukraine

• The US has announced a new $2.17 billion security aid package for Ukraine.

• The US also provided long-range GLSDB missiles for Ukraine.

• In a tweet, Zelensky thanked the US and President Joe Biden for the additional aid.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that the US has announced additional military aid to Ukraine worth $2.2bn (£1.83bn) will include long-range missiles capable of doubling its attack range.

It brings the total amount of military aid given to Ukraine to more than $29.3bn (£24.31bn) since February 2022.

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The package includes ground-launched small-diameter bombs (GLSDB) which can hit targets 150km (93 miles) away.

But officials refused to be drawn on speculation that the munitions could be used to attack parts of annexed Crimea.

“When it comes to Ukrainian plans on operations, clearly that is their decision,” Pentagon spokesperson Brig Gen Pat Ryder told reporters

“This gives them a longer-range capability, long-range fires capability, that will enable them, again, to conduct operations in defence of their country and take back their sovereign territory, Russian-occupied areas.”

Russia illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and considers it part of its territory. But it has come under sporadic fire from Ukrainian forces in recent months.

Western nations have repeatedly ruled out providing Ukraine with offensive weapons – such as fighter jets – which it could use to strike against Russia itself.

In a tweet, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the US and President Joe Biden for the additional aid.

“The more long-range our weapons are and the more mobile our troops are, the sooner Russia’s brutal aggression will end,” Mr Zelensky wrote. “Together with [the US], we stand against terror.”

Previously, Ukraine’s longest-range weapon was the Himars rocket system, which can hit targets at a range of up to 80km (50 miles). Kyiv used the system to devastating effect during its counter-offensive in the south and east last year.

The GLSDB also gives Ukraine forces the ability to strike anywhere in the Russian-occupied Donbas, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. It also allows Ukraine to threaten Russian supply lines in the east.

Manufactured by Boeing and Saab, GLSDB is a gliding rocket with a small bomb attached, capable of striking a target within one metre of its position.

And it can be fired from a variety of weapons systems, including the Himars and M270 MLRS systems already in use in Ukraine.

However, both the Pentagon and Boeing refused to comment on delivery dates for the system, with some reports suggesting that it could take up to nine months before it reaches Ukraine.

FURTHER READING

• War: US Hits Russia’s Wagner Group With Fresh Sanctions

• ‘Your Tanks Will Burn’ — Putin Puppet Tells Sunak After Challenger 2 Deal

• War: US Announces New $3bn Military Assistance Package For Ukraine

The new package – which will also include additional Himars missiles and 250 Javelin anti-armour systems – comes amid mounting concerns that Western nations have been too slow to provide fresh military aid to Ukraine.

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