The USA on December 27 introduced the ultimate drawdown of weapons and navy tools for Ukraine from U.S. stockpiles below current presidential authorization.
The $250 million bundle consists of air-defense munitions, further ammunition for Excessive-Mobility Artillery Rocket Methods (HIMARS), 155 mm and 105 mm artillery ammunition, and anti-armor munitions, Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned in a assertion.
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”Our help has been crucial to supporting our Ukrainian companions as they defend their nation and their freedom in opposition to Russia’s aggression,” Blinken mentioned, including that the arms and tools was being supplied below beforehand directed drawdowns for Ukraine.
White Home national-security spokesman John Kirby mentioned final week that President Joe Biden was planning another navy assist bundle in December, however that additional help after that will require an settlement in Congress, the place the prospects for a deal are unsure.
”When that one’s achieved…we could have no extra replenishment authority obtainable to us and we will want Congress to behave immediately,” Kirby mentioned 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 further navy assist for Israel and Taiwan, has been stalled by Republican calls for that the administration tackle border safety.
Senate leaders mentioned after Zelenskiy’s go to that negotiators had been ”making encouraging progress” however ”difficult points stay.”
The announcement of the help bundle got here because the Ukrainian navy mentioned its troops fought 49 fight clashes alongside the entrance line. As well as, the Normal Workers mentioned 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 principle hotspot stays the realm close to Avdiyivka within the Donetsk area, the place Ukrainian troops repelled almost 30 enemy assaults, the Normal Workers mentioned, including that about 10 settlements, together with Avdiyivka, had been hit by enemy artillery and mortar hearth through the day.
The Ukrainian navy additionally repelled assaults within the areas close to Kupyansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Maryinka, and Zaporizhzhya.
Within the Kherson area, the Normal Workers mentioned Russian forces ”don’t quit their intention to knock out our items from the bridgeheads on the left financial institution of the Dnieper.”
Russian forces carried out 10 unsuccessful assaults on the positions of Ukrainian troops through the day and ”obtained a good repulse and suffered vital losses,” the Normal Workers mentioned, including that Ukrainian forces had 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 informed RFE/RL that long-range drones had been now being mass produced in Ukraine. Oleksandr Kamyshin mentioned this consists of ”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, based mostly on the outcomes of use,” he mentioned.