US Military Aid to Ukraine: US officials say that the US will send Ukraine military packages worth about $225 million. These packages will include weapons that Kyiv’s forces can use to attack targets in Russia and protect the city of Kharkiv from a strong Russian attack.
On Thursday, the officials said the aid comprises mortar systems and a variety of artillery rounds in addition to weapons for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS. They spoke under the condition of anonymity.
Under a new US directive, Ukraine may strike across the border into Russia with such weapons should Russian forces there be attacking or getting ready to attack.
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As per Hindustan Times, that modification does not, however, change US policy guiding Ukraine not to strike aggressively inside Russia using American-provided ATACMS or long-range missiles and other weaponry.
President Joe Biden vowed in his speech on Thursday at the American cemetery in Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-Day that the US “will not walk away” from the defense of Ukraine and let Russia threaten more of Europe.
Doing this would mean, he said, that the US has forgotten “what happened here on these hallowed beaches.”
Biden is supposed to meet Friday in Paris with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine. Wednesday saw a Western official and a US senator claim Ukraine had struck inside Russia using US weaponry.
According to a June 3 Institute for the Study of War report, recent days saw Ukrainian forces strike a Russian S-300/400 air defence battery in the Belgorod area using a HIMARS system.
Using presidential drawdown authority, the new aid package is being supplied by dragging systems and weapons from current US stockpiles so they can be rapidly sent to the war front.
Other military provisions
Officials said the aid package also includes missiles for the HAWK air defence system, Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, Javelin and AT-4 anti-armour systems, 155mm Howitzers, armoured vehicles, trailers, patrol boats, demolition materials and a broad range of other spare parts and equipment.
Ukrainian officials have pushed the US to let Kyiv’s forces defend themselves against attacks starting from Russian territory.
The second-biggest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv, has come under more Russian attack and lies just 20 km from the Russian border.
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As a response to NATO allies letting Ukraine use their weapons to attack Russian territory, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Wednesday that Russia could give other countries long-range weapons to use against Western targets.
As part of its plan to get Ukraine to use more important weapons, the US is sending more HIMARS weapons to Ukraine. Last month, the State Department gave the go-ahead for an emergency $30 million sale of HIMARS systems to Ukraine.
Reports say that Ukraine has asked Germany’s government to pay for three rocket systems that they want to buy.
