Washington, May 7: US President Joe Biden is sending a new weapons package worth at least $100 million to Ukraine, in the latest in a series of transfers to help Kyiv fight against Russia.
Biden signed the weapons package on Friday, providing additional artillery munitions, radar and other equipment to Ukraine.
"Today, the United States is continuing our strong support for the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their country against Russia's ongoing aggression," Biden said in a statement.
The United States has sent $3.4 billion worth of armaments to Ukraine since February 24, including howitzers, anti-aircraft Stinger systems, anti-tank Javelin missiles, ammunition and recently-disclosed "Ghost" drones.
The new weapons package will include 25,000 155mm artillery rounds, counter-artillery radar, jamming equipment, field equipment and spare parts, according to a US official.
Last month, Biden asked Congress for a whopping $33 billion aid package for Ukraine, including more than $20 billion in new military aid and other security assistance over the next five months to use in the regime's war with Russia.
The supplemental funding request includes $16.4 billion for the Defense Department, $8.5 billion in economic assistance, and $3 billion for humanitarian assistance and to fight food insecurity, according to reports.
The new package includes $6 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and $5.4 billion to replenish military inventories of weapons and equipment sent to the front lines.
“Additional security assistance will put urgently needed equipment into the hands of Ukraine’s military and police, including ammunition, armored vehicles, small arms, demining assistance and unmanned aircraft systems,” Biden wrote in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
American journalist and political commentator Don DeBar denounced Biden’s request, saying that it shows what the priorities of the Biden administration are.
“To get an understanding of what $33 billion represents in the federal budget, consider that the entire annual budget for the fiscal year 2020 for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, including all the payouts for Section 8 and other rental assistance and all other federal housing assistance programs in the United States - all of them - came to $44 billion,” DeBar said.
“Biden, Pelosi and Schumer are giving Ukraine 3/4 of that annual budget for only 5 months of military aid, meaning that the annualized budget would be somewhere on the order of $70 billion dollars, almost twice the budget of HUD,” he noted.
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