WASHINGTON, October 16. US President Joe Biden announced a new military assistance package for Ukraine worth $425 million, including air defense equipment, the White House said in a statement. This announcement came after phone talks between Biden and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. The statement outlined that the $425 million security assistance package includes additional air defense capability, air-to-ground munitions, armored vehicles, and critical munitions to meet Ukraine’s urgent needs.
The United States will provide Ukraine with a range of additional capabilities, including hundreds of air defense interceptors, dozens of tactical air defense systems, additional artillery systems, significant quantities of ammunition, hundreds of armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, and thousands of additional armored vehicles, according to the White House statement.
The US Department of Defense specified that the new assistance package includes ammunition for NASAMS surface-to-air missile systems, HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems, Stinger man-portable surface-to-air missile systems and RIM-7 anti-aircraft missiles, 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, ammunition for TOW anti-armor systems, Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems, along with vehicles, small arms and ammunition.
The Pentagon stated that the US has provided Ukraine with a total of $59.1 billion in military assistance since the start of the special military operation and $59.8 billion since the beginning of President Biden’s term. The White House also mentioned that a virtual leader-level meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group will take place in November.