- Announcement comes as Ukrainian forces advance into Russia’s Kursk region
President Joe Biden will provide an additional $250 million in military aid for Ukraine as Kyiv faces advancing Russian forces in the east and devastating strikes by Moscow.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday said: ‘I’m pleased to say that President (Joe) Biden will announce today an additional $250 million security assistance package for Ukraine. It will surge in more capabilities to meet Ukraine’s evolving requirements’.
The announcement comes at a perilous time for Ukrainian forces, who are advancing into Russia’s Kursk region, despite Russia’s threats to plough through the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk.
It also comes days after Ukraine suffered one of its darkest days after two ballistic missiles killed at least 51 people and injured 219 in the Poltava region.
The missiles hit a military training centre and a nearby hospital in a central region of Ukraine with Zelensky vowing ‘Russian scum will pay for this’ following the devastating attack.
It appeared to be one of the deadliest carried out by Russian forces since the war began more than 900 days ago on February 24, 2022.
This comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently slammed Western allies for taking too long to make key decisions on military support.
The Ukrainian leader also said he was pushing partners to get more involved in the conflict Ukraine to use Western weapons against the enemy.
The call to accelerate aid and push so-called ‘red lines’ of engagement in the conflict reflect the growing pressure Ukrainian forces are under along more than 1,000 km of front lines in the northeast, east and south of the country.
That’s not to say Zelensky has not expressed gratitude over the $61 billion aid package that was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in April following months of delays.
The long-awaited military and economic assistance from Biden in April was warmly welcomed by the Ukrainian president, who said that the package would ‘save thousands and thousands of lives’.
The U.S. has been the chief military backer of Ukraine in its war against Russia, but Congress has not approved large-scale funding for its ally for nearly a year an a half, mainly because of cross-aisle bickering.
Biden and Democratic lawmakers in Congress have been pushing for a major new weapons package for Ukraine for months.
But Republicans, influenced by the party’s presidential candidate Donald Trump, have been reluctant to provide funding to Kyiv for the drawn-out conflict.