The United States will send military aid to Ukraine in the amount of about 225 million dollars, American officials said. According to “Voice of America”, the new package will include ammunition that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be able to use to launch strikes on Russian territory to protect Kharkiv from a major Russian offensive.
The aid includes ammunition for HIMARS artillery rocket systems, as well as mortar systems and various types of artillery shells, officials said.
According to the new US directive, Ukraine can use such weapons to strike across the border with Russia if enemy forces attack or are preparing to attack. However, this change does not change US policy, which instructs Kyiv not to use American-supplied ATACMS missiles or other munitions for offensive strikes inside Russia.
The new aid package was announced amid a speech by President Joe Biden at the American cemetery in Normandy on Thursday to mark the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings. Biden promised that the US “will not retreat” from the defense of Ukraine and will not allow Russia to threaten other European countries.
Biden is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi in Paris on Friday.
It will be recalled that on Wednesday an American senator said that Ukraine used US weapons to carry out strikes inside Russia. And in the message of the Institute for the Study of War dated June 3, it is said that the other day Ukrainian troops used the American HIMARS system to strike a battery of the S-300/S-400 air defense system in the Belgorod region.
VOA sources said the aid package also includes missiles for the HAWK air defense system, Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, Javelin and AT-4 anti-tank systems, 155 mm howitzers, armored vehicles, patrol boats, explosives, and a wide range of spare parts. and other equipment.
Additional munitions for HIMARS are part of US efforts to expand Ukraine’s use of this key weapon.
In May, the State Department approved a proposal for the urgent sale of HIMARS systems to Ukraine in the amount of about 30 million dollars. The State Department said that Ukraine expressed a desire to purchase three HIMARS complexes, and the purchase would be financed by the German government.
