WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will send Ukraine nearly $3 billion in military aid, in a massive new package that will include several dozen Bradley combat vehicles for the first time, U.S. officials said Thursday, in the Biden administration’s latest move to increasingly deadly and powerful weapons to help Ukraine beat back Russian forces.
The aid — totaling about $2.85 billion — is the largest in a string of packages of military equipment the Pentagon has pulled from its stockpiles to send to Ukraine. It is intended to get as much as possible to the Ukrainian armed forces during the winter months, before spring arrives and an expected increase in fighting begins.
An announcement is expected on Friday, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity as details of the package have not been made public.
The Bradley Fighting Vehicles are medium armored combat vehicles that can serve as reinforced troop carriers on the battlefield. It has tracks instead of wheels, but is lighter and more manoeuvrable than a tank. It can carry around 10 personnel and is seen as a vital way of bringing troops safely into battle.
Also included in the relief package are HUMVEES, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles or MRAPs, and a large amount of missiles and other munitions.
The aid comes on the heels of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dramatic visit to Washington last month, when he first secretly left his war-torn nation to thank America and predict that 2023 will be a “turning point” in the conflict would be. . When he pushed for more support for his country’s war effort, he told Congress, “Your money is not charity,” but is instead “an investment in global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way.” .
Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have been pressuring Western leaders to provide more advanced weapons, including armored vehicles and Patriot missile batteries. Last month’s $1.85 billion aid package included for the first time a Patriot battery, the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has delivered to Ukraine during the war effort. It also provided an unknown number of Joint Direct Attack Munitions kits to modify huge bombs by adding tail fins and precision navigation systems so they can be guided to a target.
