The US Department of Defense (DoD) announced an additional security assistance package valued at up to USD 175 M (EUR 163.4 M) on 6 September 2023 to help Ukraine counter Russia’s invasion of the country.
The package includes additional air defence equipment, artillery rounds and anti-tank weapons.
The latest round of assistance marks the 46th drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021 and reflects the US enduring commitment to support Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion.
US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken, who travelled to Kyiv on 6 September to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, underscored the United States’ unwavering support.
“We want to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs, not only to succeed in the counter-offensive but has what it needs for the long term to make sure that it has a strong deterrent, strong defence capacity, so that, in the future aggressions like this don’t happen again,” Blinken said ahead of his meeting with Kuleba.
The latest tranche in US security assistance is being provisioned as part of the USD 6.2 Bn in presidential drawdown authority restored in June following a re-evaluation of the total value of items already committed to Ukraine.
As of the end of last month, there was approximately USD 5.75 Bn in restored funding remaining.
The assistance has been provisioned through drawdowns of existing US stocks and through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative: the authority under which the US procures capabilities from industry and partners.
The Biden administration has committed more than USD 43 Bn in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Peter Felstead
