The United States will send a substantial security package to Ukraine, including badly needed air defense systems and artillery rounds, the White House said Wednesday, as the administration — its war chest replenished after months of gridlock in Congress — moves quickly to help Kyiv counter a resurgent Russian campaign.
The infusion of artillery ammunition, in particular, will be welcomed along the front, where Ukrainian army units — forced to ration dwindling stocks — have dug in and sought to slow Russia’s advance.
Capturing Chasiv Yar would allow Moscow’s forces to launch attacks from the high ground, threatening larger cities important to Ukraine’s defense and supply pipeline.
Renewed assistance is unlikely to tip the scales in Kyiv’s favor on its own, and U.S. officials have said they foresee a grinding year ahead, in which Ukraine will seek to hold off Russian forces while preparing its own units to go back on offense in the future.
They say Kyiv’s priorities include holding contested areas in the country’s north and east, maintaining its commercial thruway in the Black Sea, and diminishing Moscow’s ability to attack from the south by keeping the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula at risk.
The $61 billion for Ukraine that was newly authorized by Congress provides funding to the Defense Department to bundle and ship weapons, ammunition and equipment from existing U.S. military stocks, and to then replenish those inventories with new purchases from domestic companies.
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