The Biden administration on Tuesday announced a new $500 million military aid package for Ukraine that includes new Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles and munitions for various weapons systems.
The provision of new Bradleys and Strykers comes after Ukraine lost armored vehicles in the first few weeks of its counteroffensive. A US military official told The New York Times that at least 15 percent of the Bradley fighting vehicles the US provided Ukraine earlier this year have been damaged or destroyed.
The $500 million is being provided through the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which allows the US to ship Ukraine weapons directly from Pentagon stockpiles. The funds are being drawn from spending that has already been authorized for the war, which at this point totals $113 billion.
According to the Pentagon, the arms in the new package include:
- Additional munitions for Patriot air defense systems
- Stinger anti-aircraft systems
- Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS)
- Demolitions munitions and systems for obstacle clearing
- Mine clearing equipment
- 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds
- 30 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles
- 25 Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers
- Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles
- Javelin anti-armor systems
- AT-4 anti-armor systems
- Anti-armor rockets
- High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARMs)
- Precision aerial munitions
- Small arms and over 22 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades
- Thermal imagery systems and night vision devices
- Testing and diagnostic equipment to support vehicle maintenance and repair
- Spare parts, generators, and other field equipment
The new arms package comes after the Pentagon claimed an “accounting error” overvalued weapons sent to Ukraine by $6.2 billion, making more military aid available through the PDA. The Pentagon said equipment was overvalued by using the cost to replace the arms rather than the depreciated value.
However, a fact sheet released by the Pentagon on Tuesday shows the $6.2 billion has not been subtracted from the total US military aid the US has pledged for Ukraine so far. The fact sheet said the US has announced over $40.5 billion in military equipment for Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24, 2022. A Pentagon fact sheet released on June 13, before the “accounting error” was announced, said the US had pledged over $40 billion.
Source: AntiWar.
