US Confirms Military Assistance Package for Ukraine This Week

The United States Department of State will announce a new military assistance package for Ukraine this week.

Matthew Miller, State Department Spokesperson, said that the United States "continues to supply Ukraine with artillery, with a whole host of weapons", and later this week, the United States will announce "additional assistance that we plan to provide Ukraine".

Asked what US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba when he called on partners to provide long-range ATACMS missiles, Miller said he would "keep those private diplomatic conversations private".

"And with respect to any other potential missile systems, they are – or other defence systems, those are always actions that we consider, but don’t have any announcements to make," the State Department spokesperson concluded.

Earlier it was reported that US President Joe Biden’s administration is preparing to announce a new military assistance package for Ukraine worth US$200 million.

The new US assistance package will be the start of the use of US$6.2 billion that "appeared" after the reassessment of the value of aid previously provided to Ukraine.

The Pentagon announced that it had assessed the military assistance provided to Ukraine incorrectly: they had used the replacement cost of the supplied equipment rather than the so-called depreciated value (i.e. the value of the equipment supplied, which is lower due to wear and tear and obsolescence).

According to the sources, these US$6.2 billion are the funds remaining from the US$25.5 billion package that Congress has authorised to be used to help Ukraine from US reserves through the Presidential Drawdown Authority.

Earlier, some US presidential administration officials, lawmakers and congressional staff expressed concern that funds to support Ukraine could run out by mid-summer.