US Announces $125 Million in Military Assistance to Ukraine

A Ukrainian serviceman holds a Stinger anti-aircraft missile at a position in a front line in Mykolaiv region, Ukraine, on Aug. 11, 2022. Anna Kudriavtseva/Reuters

The United States announced on Aug. 9 it is sending $125 million in military assistance to Ukraine.

“We will deploy this new assistance as quickly as possible to bolster Ukraine’s defense of its territory and its people,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “As President [Joe] Biden has made clear, the United States and the international coalition we have assembled will continue to stand with Ukraine.”

According to the Pentagon, the package includes but is not limited to multi-mission radars, 155 mm and 105 mm artillery ammunition, javelin systems, ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems, small arms ammunition, high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle ambulances, Stinger missiles, and demolition equipment and munitions.

This is the 10th tranche of assistance to Ukraine since Congress passed a $60.8 billion bill in April to provide supplemental assistance to Kyiv, according to the State Department. The Pentagon said it is the 63rd batch of assistance since August 2021.

The United States has given the Eastern European country more than $55 billion in military assistance, according to the State Department.

The announcement comes as Ukraine has invaded the western Russian city of Kursk, while Russia has made slow progress in the Eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk.

Russia will “start to realize that the war is slowly creeping inside of Russian territory,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s senior adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Aug. 8.

“When will it be possible to conduct a negotiation process in the way that we can push them or get something from them?“ he said. ”Only when the war is not going on according to their scenarios.”

In a call with reporters on Aug. 9, White House national security communications adviser John Kirby sidestepped the question of whether the United States is fine with this incursion.

“We’re in touch with our Ukrainian counterparts, and we are working to gain a better understanding of what they’re doing, what their goals are, what their strategy is,” he said. “And I’m going to leave a little bit of space for us to have those conversations before I try to characterize what’s going on.”

Kirby added that there is no change in U.S. policy on how Ukraine can use U.S. weapons. That policy limits Ukraine in terms of where Ukraine can strike inside Russia with U.S. weapons.

“The ability to be able to fire back when fired upon is really what this policy is focused on. ... as we see Russian forces firing across the border, the ability for Ukraine to fire back at those ground forces using U.S.-provided munitions,” Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in June.

“This is not about geography. It’s about common sense,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told PBS. “If Russia is attacking or about to attack from its territory into Ukraine, it only makes sense to allow Ukraine to hit back against the forces that are hitting it from across the border.”

“It’s self-defense, and so it makes sense for them to be able to do that,” he said.

The new assistance also comes shortly after U.S.-made F-16s arrived in Ukraine, thanks to Denmark and Holland.

While Zelenskyy expressed appreciation for the fighter jets, he said, “The number that is available in Ukraine and the number of pilots who have already been trained is not enough.”

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.