WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Friday that the US will send Ukraine a $250 million military aid package – but declined to lift restrictions that bar Kyiv from firing American-made long-range missiles into Russia.
The latest package will include air-defense missiles, rockets and artillery, armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons, which will come from Pentagon stockpiles and be paid for by the $60 billion supplemental funding bill Congress passed in April.
Specifically, the Defense Department is sending RIM-7, TOW and Stinger missiles and Javelins, as well as Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, M113 armored personnel carriers and Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicles.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin listens to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday. AP
A worker along the assembly line handles large caliber 155mm metal projectiles at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Scranton, Pa. REUTERSAlso included are patrol boats and undefined “maritime training equipment,” as Ukraine continues to dominate Moscow in the Black Sea.
Kyiv wants to use ATACMS, which have a range of roughly 190 miles, to attack Russian bases and destroy other military infrastructure on Kremlin territory before it can be used against Ukraine.
However, the Harris-Biden administration is remaining resolute against lifting firing restrictions – which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has begged Washington to reverse.
The 46-year-old made his case again Friday during an in-person meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
“We need to have this long-range capability, not only on the divided territory of Ukraine, but also on the Russian territory, so that Russia is motivated to seek peace,” Zelensky said. “We need to make Russian cities and even Russian soldiers think about what they need: peace or Putin.”
The White House has consistently expressed reticence to OK any military action that they say could “provoke” Russia further – often to the point of preventing Ukraine from taking what could be game-changing offensive action.
On Friday, Austin attempted to wave off criticism by asserting that allowing Ukraine to fire American weapons onto Russian land would make little difference in the course of the conflict.
A Ukrainian soldier disembarks from a US-made M113 armored personnel carrier in an undisclosed area in the Donetsk region on June 19, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AFP via Getty Images
In this image released by Ukrainian Defense Ministry Press Service, Ukrainian soldiers use a launcher with US Javelin missiles in Donetsk, Ukraine. AP“This is the largest military in Europe that they’ve faced,” he said of the Ukrainians. “… I don’t believe that one specific capability will be decisive.”
However, some of the 50-plus partner nations who regularly gather to coordinate weapons aid for the war seemed sympathetic to Zelensky’s plea.
“Many countries [are] in favor,” said Laurynas Kasčiūnas, Lithuania’s defense minister. “Many, many. But the question is not the number of countries, but countries who give [those] missiles.”
By announcing Lithuania’s support, Kasčiūnas said, “I hope it will help to convince other countries.”
Canada’s defense minister, Bill Blair, said he hopes other Western allies also get behind the push. Ottawa does not have long-range munitions it could provide on its own, Blair said.
“One of the things President Zelensky and his ministers have made very clear to us is that they are suffering significant attacks from air bases and military installations located within Russia,” Blair said. “We support their request for permission, but it’s still a decision of our allies.”
The US has now sent 65 aid packages to Kyiv since August 2021, when Russian President Vladimir Putin began stacking troops along the Ukrainian border ahead of his Feb. 24, 2022, full-scale invasion.
With Post wires
