The US on December 27 introduced the ultimate drawdown of weapons and navy gear for Ukraine from U.S. stockpiles below current presidential authorization.
The $250 million package deal contains air-defense munitions, extra ammunition for Excessive-Mobility Artillery Rocket Programs (HIMARS), 155 mm and 105 mm artillery ammunition, and anti-armor munitions, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in a assertion.
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”Our help has been important to supporting our Ukrainian companions as they defend their nation and their freedom in opposition to Russia’s aggression,” Blinken stated, including that the arms and gear was being offered below beforehand directed drawdowns for Ukraine.
White Home national-security spokesman John Kirby stated final week that President Joe Biden was planning yet another navy assist package deal in December, however that additional help after that may require an settlement in Congress, the place the prospects for a deal are unsure.
”When that one’s completed…we may have no extra replenishment authority obtainable to us and we will want Congress to behave at once,” Kirby stated on December 18.
Blinken urged Congress to ”act swiftly” on new assist for Ukraine, ”to advance our nationwide safety pursuits by serving to Ukraine defend itself and safe its future.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was in Washington final week to talk with U.S. lawmakers about Ukraine’s wants as Biden’s proposed $61 billion in assist for Ukraine, together with extra navy assist for Israel and Taiwan, has been stalled by Republican calls for that the administration handle border safety.
Senate leaders stated after Zelenskiy’s go to that negotiators have been ”making encouraging progress” however ”difficult points stay.”
The announcement of the help package deal got here because the Ukrainian navy stated its troops fought 49 fight clashes alongside the entrance line. As well as, the Basic Workers stated on December 27 in its night abstract that Russian forces carried out 67 air strikes and fired 12 rocket salvos at Ukrainian troop positions and populated areas.
The primary hotspot stays the world close to Avdiyivka within the Donetsk area, the place Ukrainian troops repelled practically 30 enemy assaults, the Basic Workers stated, including that about 10 settlements, together with Avdiyivka, have been hit by enemy artillery and mortar hearth throughout the day.
The Ukrainian navy additionally repelled assaults within the areas close to Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Maryinka, and Zaporizhzhya.
Within the Kherson area, the Basic Workers stated Russian forces ”don’t surrender their intention to knock out our models from the bridgeheads on the left financial institution of the Dnieper.”
Russian forces carried out 10 unsuccessful assaults on the positions of Ukrainian troops throughout the day and ”obtained a good repulse and suffered important losses,” the Basic Workers stated, including that Ukrainian forces have been ”firmly holding” their defensive positions.
WATCH: As Russian forces attempt to push west of the town of Bakhmut, Ukrainian troopers are dug into their positions in barren, mine-strewn battlefields.
Additionally on December 27, the nation’s minister of strategic business instructed RFE/RL that long-range drones have been now being mass produced in Ukraine. Oleksandr Kamyshin stated this contains ”analogs” of Iranian-made Shahed drones.
He additionally introduced a brand new model of a Ukrainian-made drone that flies so far as 1,100 kilometers however didn’t present particulars.
”The product that beforehand labored for 1,100 kilometers will quickly have a brand new model, you’ll hear about it over time, primarily based on the outcomes of use,” he stated.