On Thursday, the U.S Department of Defense (DoD) announced the authorisation of a Presidential Drawdown of security assistance valued at up to $675 million to meet “Ukraine’s critical security and defence needs.”
According to the publication by the DoD seen by Investogist, this authorisation is the Biden Administration’s twentieth drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021.
The drawdown which started months before Russia’s “Special Military Operations” in Ukraine, has accelerated since the Russian army invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Capabilities in this package include:
- Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
- Four 105mm Howitzers and 36,000 105mm artillery rounds;
- Additional High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARM);
- 100 Armored High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV);
- 1.5 million rounds of small arms ammunition;
- More than 5,000 anti-armor systems;
- 1,000 155mm rounds of Remote Anti-Armor Mine (RAAM) Systems;
- Additional grenade launchers and small arms;
- 50 armored medical treatment vehicles;
- Night vision devices and other field equipment.
In total, the United States has committed approximately $15.2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since January 2021. Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $17.2 billion in security assistanc ofe to Ukraine and more than $14.5 billion since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion on February 24.
The U.S State Department has also notified the U.S Congress, according to the press release, of its intent to make US$2 billion available in long-term investments in Foreign Military Financing.
US$1 billion is expected to go to bolster the security of Ukraine while US$1 billion will go to 17 nations that are in Ukraine’s region.
Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur
