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US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J Austin III has announced nearly US$1 billion in additional security assistance for Ukraine.
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The $988 million package of new equipment, provisioned under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) includes unmanned aerial systems, rocket munitions and support for maintenance and repair programs.
The capabilities in the newly announced security package include High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems ammunition, unmanned aerial systems, equipment, components, and spare parts to maintain, repair and overhaul artillery systems, tanks, and armoured vehicles.
“I’ve convened the contact group 24 times now ... Its other members have committed more than $57 billion in direct security assistance to Ukraine,” Austin said during an address at the Reagan National Defense Forum hosted by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute in Simi Valley, California.
“And together, we have helped Ukraine survive an all-out assault by the largest military in Europe ... we continue to be crystal clear that Putin’s war was not the result of NATO enlargement but the cause of NATO enlargement.
“As I said in Kyiv in October, we are seeing ’a sneak preview of a world built by tyrants and thugs – a chaotic world, violent world carved into spheres of influence; a world where bullies trample their smaller neighbors; and a world where aggressors force free people to live in fear’.
“So, we can continue to stand up to the Kremlin, or we can let Putin have his way – and condemn our children and grandchildren to live in a world of chaos and conflict.”
Austin noted that Russia has suffered at least 700,000 casualties and squandered more than $200 billion since its invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this week, Austin discussed the recent battlefield developments and US security assistance to Ukraine, with Minister of Defence Rustem Umerov on 8 December.
The 22nd USAI package issued under the Biden administration brings the total of US security assistance for Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 to more than $62 billion.
