Defense & National Security — New artillery to head to Ukraine

by Ellen Mitchell - 04/13/22 7:49 PM ET

President Biden announced Wednesday that his administration would authorize $800 million in additional security assistance to Ukraine, including artillery, helicopters and armored personnel carriers.

We’ll detail what’s in the package — including the weapons not previously sent to Ukraine — plus the plans under consideration by the Pentagon to train Ukrainian soldiers and more on a damning new report on Russia’s global human rights violations in Ukraine.

This is Defense & National Security, your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. For The Hill, I’m Ellen Mitchell. A friend forward this newsletter to you? Subscribe here.

Biden announces $800M in Ukraine aid

In announcing his administration’s latest military aid package to Ukraine, Biden said in a statement that he briefed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the new assistance in a phone call earlier Wednesday.

“The Ukrainian military has used the weapons we are providing to devastating effect. As Russia prepares to intensify its attack in the Donbas region, the United States will continue to provide Ukraine with the capabilities to defend itself,” Biden said.

What’s in the package?: The Pentagon said the aid package includes 11 Mi-17 helicopters, 300 Switchblade drones, 200 M113 armored personnel carriers, 18 Howitzers and 40,000 artillery rounds, 10 counter-artillery radars, 500 Javelin missiles, unmanned coastal defense vessels and protective equipment in the event of a chemical or biological weapons attack.

Biden also said that the U.S. would help transfer “significant capabilities” from other allies to Ukraine, without providing specific details on those capabilities.

Pleas for more: The U.S. has committed $1.7 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began nearly seven weeks ago.

But Ukraine has pleaded for additional weaponry and systems to repel Russian attacks. Before his call with Biden on Wednesday, Zelensky posted a video to Twitter asking for additional air defense systems, combat aircraft, artillery, armored vehicles and tanks from the U.S. and its allies.

A steady build up: The U.S. has stepped up security assistance to Ukraine since the invasion began. Last week, the Biden administration helped facilitate the transfer of a Soviet-era S-300 air defense system from Slovakia to Ukraine by repositioning a U.S. Patriot missile system in Slovakia.

Helos included: There had been questions leading up to the official announcement about whether helicopters would be included new package, but Biden’s statement made clear they would be.

“It was unclear for a while from their side whether they wanted additional helicopters,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Wednesday. “Today, they made clear they wanted them in.”

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters that the 11 Soviet-era Mi-17 helicopters included in the package were initially earmarked for Afghanistan.

Read the full story here.

BIDEN GETS PERSONAL WITH ATTACKS ON PUTIN

Biden is escalating the pressure on Vladimir Putin, targeting the Russian leader, his family and his inner circle with words and actions.

The Biden administration has sanctioned Putin himself, his daughters and several of his personal friends and top aides in a bid to squeeze the Russian leader over his country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Biden also has stepped up his rhetoric with Putin, calling him a war criminal, saying he cannot remain in power and most recently describing his actions as genocide on Tuesday.

US forces may train more Ukrainian troops

The Pentagon is considering ways it can train more Ukrainian forces to use Switchblade drones and other weapons given to the country, including using American troops based on NATO’s eastern flank, a senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday.

Defense officials are looking at “a range of options” for training Ukrainian troops on systems provided to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, the official told reporters.

“We are looking at options for additional Switchblade training and where and when that might occur and how we would do that,” they said. “Certainly, one option that would be available to us would be to utilize troops that are closer to Ukraine, obviously troops that are on NATO’s eastern flank, and that that still remains an open option to us.”

Already there: The Pentagon has deployed thousands of American troops to bolster the easternmost areas of NATO since Russia’s war on Ukraine, now on its 49th day.

The official said those soldiers — including those based in Poland and Romania — could remotely train a small number of Ukrainian troops who would then be sent back into Ukraine and train their colleagues.

Earlier training: The U.S. military has already trained a small number of Ukrainian soldiers on how to use Switchblade drones as Washington has sent hundreds of vehicle-destroying weapons to the ex-Soviet country.

The Ukrainian troops, who were already in the United States, returned to their country earlier this month.

New instruction needed: The Biden administration later on Wednesday announced a new $800 million weapons package for Ukraine to include several “artillery systems, artillery rounds, and armored personnel carriers” not given to the country until now.

The Pentagon anticipates that some of the items will require additional training for Ukrainian forces, but is still working through how many U.S. troops would need to be involved, where such training would be located and how long it would take, according to press secretary John Kirby.

‘Credible evidence’ Russia violated human rights

Russia’s assault on Ukraine has included “clear patterns” of international humanitarian law violations, an investigative team sanctioned by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on Wednesday.

Chilling evidence: The OSCE report also found “credible evidence” of violations of fundamental human rights in areas of Ukraine that were largely under Russian control.

The report found evidence of torture, killings and inhuman and degrading treatment of people.

It said it had found some evidence of bad behavior by Ukrainian forces, including with how it has treated prisoners of war, but said “violations committed by the Russian Federation, however, are by far larger in nature and scale.”

A first: The OSCE report marks one of the first published investigations into atrocities occurring in Ukraine. The document will be available to judicial bodies aiming at prosecuting violators of international humanitarian law.

What it found: The report found that Russia had deliberately struck a maternity hospital in Mariupol on March 9, offering no warning. It labeled it a “clear violation” of international humanitarian law and a war crime.

The report also cites a March 16 attack on a drama theater in Mariupol where up to 1,300 people had been seeking shelter. Both sides of the theater were clearly marked “children” to discourage an attack. Three hundred people were killed in the strike.

U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE Michael Carpenter in a Wednesday statement said the report “documents the catalog of inhumanity perpetrated by Russia’s forces in Ukraine.” He also raised concern that “Russia’s atrocities continue even after this report’s conclusion.”