US to send Ukraine another $275M in air defense weapons, equipment

The Pentagon on Friday announced another $275 million in weapons and equipment for Ukraine, pushing the amount of military aid committed to Kyiv to nearly $20 billion since Russia first attacked the country. 

The package will include more ammunition for high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), 80,000 155 mm artillery rounds, counter-unmanned aerial systems equipment, counter air defenses, additional High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles, ambulances and medical equipment, 150 generators and other field equipment, according to a Defense Department release.  

There are no major new weapons included in the latest U.S. lethal aid package, with the aid instead meant to restock systems already in Ukraine, including HIMARS, as well as bolster its air defenses.  

“This security assistance package will provide Ukraine with new capabilities to boost its air defenses in addition to providing critical equipment that Ukraine is using so effectively to defend itself on the battlefield,” the release stated.  

The lethal aid will come via presidential drawdown authority, meaning the U.S. military will pull weapons from its own stockpiles to send to the embattled country.  

The United States has now committed about $19.3 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of the war in February and about $20 billion since the beginning of the Biden administration. 

The latest aid tranche comes as Russia has been bombarding Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and energy grids as winter settles in, though on the ground fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops is expected to slow.