President Joe Biden is putting together a fresh military aid package for Ukraine, according to a new report, as the outgoing administration hurries to ferry more provisions to Kyiv ahead of President-elect Donald Trump striding back into the White House.
The Biden administration is preparing a new tranche of aid worth $725 million, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing two anonymous U.S. officials.
The package, still subject to change, will likely include ammunition for the U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) Ukraine has been wielding against Russian forces for more than two years, according to the report.
Washington will also reportedly send a collection of drones, Stinger man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), land mines and cluster munitions, likely in HIMARS-fired Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rockets.
Newsweek has reached out to the Pentagon and White House for comment via email.
Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
Ukraine, heavily reliant on Western aid, is waiting with bated breath to see how the U.S. will pivot in its support for Kyiv when Trump takes over in January.
The president-elect has vowed to end military aid to Ukraine, and has promised to end the war in a day, without elaborating on how he plans to achieve this.
The U.S. provides roughly half of the military aid heading for Kyiv, supplying more than $60 billion since February 2022, when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion, according to Pentagon documents.
Washington has sent more than 3,000 Stinger missiles and ammunition for the more than 40 HIMARS it has delivered to Ukraine, Defense Department documents show.
Kyiv and Moscow lean heavily on artillery in what is the largest land war in Europe since World War II. Ukraine uses a variety of artillery systems, like HIMARS and the country’s domestically-made Bohdana howitzer. But getting hold of the shells to keep the systems firing has been a tall order, stockpiles across Europe drained and Ukraine’s allies are struggling to produce more.
The reports of more U.S. aid comes at a crucial moment in the nearly three years of war. Russia has been steadily gaining in Ukraine’s east since the start of the year, and has had some success rolling back Kyiv’s grip on hundreds of square miles of territory in the southern Russian Kursk region.
Last week, a U.S. defense official confirmed to Newsweek that the Biden administration had reversed its policy on anti-personnel landmines, and was sending “non-persistent” versions to Ukraine that deactivate after a set time.
Land mines can be effective military tools, but they are controversial among human rights groups as they can pose a danger to civilians for a long time. They are banned by over 150 countries, although this does not include Russia or the U.S.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration greenlit Ukraine’s use of long-range American-made Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles deep into Russia, which it had long refused to do.
