The US Pledges Another $820 Million In Security Assistance To Ukraine – The United States on Friday announced it will send an additional $820 million in aid for Ukraine, with some coming from the existing U.S. military stocks and the rest providing funding for equipment that will be built by U.S. defense industry.
President Joe Biden announced this additional aid package at the G7 meeting of NATO leaders in Madrid. President Biden has said that the United States “is going to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.” The aid package is designed to help Ukraine counter Russia’s use of long-range missiles and artillery.
The Defense Department officially announced the aid package on Friday which will include:
-Two National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS);
-Up to 150,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition;
-Four additional counter-artillery radars;
-Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS)
The latest aid package includes authorization of a Presidential Drawdown of security assistance (PDA) valued at up to $50 million, as well as $770 million in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funds.
The PDA authorization is the fourteenth drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories for the Ukrainians that the Biden Administration has authorized since August of last year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked President Biden for authorizing the latest security assistance package that includes air defense systems, that can be used to target the missiles that have been hitting civilian targets.
“Thank you @POTUS for your continued leadership and support of UA in its fight against the aggressor,” Zelensky posted on Twitter.
HIMARS Missiles Proving To Be Deadly Effective:
The US has already sent HIMARS systems to Ukraine and the training for the initial troops to use the systems has been completed and reports are acknowledging that the Ukrainians are putting the systems to deadly use.
HIMARS has a range of 40 miles, are truck-mounted, which makes them very mobile, and are satellite-guided which makes the system much more accurate than anything the Ukrainians previously had at their disposal.
A rocket fires from an HIMARS launcher during a live fire certification for A and B batteries, 3rd Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment, 18th Fires Brigade (Airborne) Feb. 17, Fort Bragg, N.C.
They have used the HIMARS to target Russian command and control headquarters and supply and ammunition depots. Still, as of today, the Ukrainians have only four of the systems with another four reportedly on the way. That is just a drop in the bucket, albeit a deadly one, that Ukraine requires if they are going to defeat the Russians. Ukraine has stated that they require 300 rocket launchers to stem the invasion and to keep up with the massive Russian artillery strikes.
General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, posted a video on the Telegram app channel of the HIMARS in use. “Artillerymen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine skillfully hit certain targets — the enemyʼs military facilities on our Ukrainian territory,” he said. Russian military bloggers also relayed the effectiveness of the HIMARS in a recent post on the Telegram app.
A senior defense department official said that the US longer-range missiles and artillery, including Harpoon anti-ship missiles, are definitely taking a toll, including the Russian decision to withdraw from Snake Island.
“In fact, the way we view this development is that the Ukrainians were very successful at applying significant pressure on the Russians, including by using those harpoon missiles that they recently acquired to attack a resupply ship, and when you realize how barren and deserted Snake Island is, you understand the importance of resupply,” the official said.
“So the Ukrainians made it very hard for the Russians to sustain their operations there, made them very vulnerable to Ukrainian strike,” he added.
Steve Balestrieri is a 1945 National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer before injuries forced his early separation. In addition to writing for 19fortyfive.com and other military news organizations, he has covered the NFL for PatsFans.com for over 11 years. His work was regularly featured in the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle and Grafton News newspapers in Massachusetts.
