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US Taxpayers Shell Out Largest Ever Military Aid Package For Ukraine

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The U.S. announced an additional $1 billion in security assistance for Ukraine Monday, the largest military aid package to date, bringing the total to $9.1 billion given so far out of an authorized $54 billion since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The latest package follows a $550 million drawdown on Aug. 1 and includes munitions for long-range weapons, including High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and armored medical treatment vehicles. However, the package does not include any additional long-range weapons systems, like HIMARS, that have made a significant operational impact in the fight, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Dr. Colin H. Kahl  said Monday.

“To meet Ukraine’s evolving battlefield requirements, the United States will continue to work with its Allies and partners to provide Ukraine with key capabilities calibrated to make a difference,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

Ukrainian forces celebrated the 16 HIMARS Ukraine has received to this point, billing them as a game changer in an otherwise “grinding” fight in the Donbas region, Reuters reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the Donbas situation “hell” and admitted on Aug. 2 that, while Ukraine lacked the manpower and equipment to defeat Russia’s invading army, it was doing “everything possible and everything impossible” to obtain the weapons needed to repel Russian troops, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

“The word ‘HIMARS’ has become almost synonymous with the word ‘justice’ in our country, and the Ukrainian defense forces will do everything to ensure that the aggressors experience increasingly more painful losses every week thanks to these very effective systems,” Zelenskyy said, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1554512359791570945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Armored medical transport vehicles will help Ukraine transfer wounded troops to a U.S. medical hospital in Germany after the U.S. approved a plan to treat Ukrainian troops at the facility in June, according to Reuters.

Ukraine will consider peace talks when it has the advanced weapons and ammunition required to repel Russian troops, a Zelenskyy adviser said Friday, including long-range artillery like HIMARS. Ukraine’s defense minister Oleksii Reznikov said in July that Ukraine needs at least 150 HIMARS or similar systems to prosecute a successful counteroffensive, Fox News reported.

“These are not the types of systems we assess you need in the hundreds,” Kahl said.

U.S. officials have raised concerns over the U.S. and Ukraine’s ability to track aid; a government watchdog report in July found that the Pentagon’s substandard recording practices hindered U.S. oversight of distribution, potentially allowing weapons and sensitive technology to end up in the wrong hands.

The Biden administration has hesitated to donate longer-range systems Ukraine has asked for out of fears Russia could assign responsibility for missile attacks on Russian territory to the U.S., sparking a global war, Fox News reported.

Munitions included in the new package can be withdrawn from existing U.S. supplies, according to the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) that allows the President to authorize emergency weapons transfers in emergency situations, Reuters reported.

The Ukrainian defense ministry did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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One Comment

  1. I’m so tired of all the Politicians waving Ukrainian flags and shouting “We must stand for Democracy” and proclaiming Zelenskyy a populist “hero” when he is, in fact, just another dictator and corrupt politician. Remember that Ukraine is the corrupt government that accepted a billion dollar bribe from then VP Joe Biden to fire the prosecutor that was looking into his son Hunter’s money laundering scheme. Ukraine also has no free press, just “state approved” media and now Zelenskyy has the audacity to say that those in the U.S. who question our unlimited money giveaway (like Glenn Greenwald and even Democrat Tulsi Gabbard) are Russian agents. Of course the other lie is that we must protect their “sovereignty and territorial integrity” while the politicians do nothing about the fact that we have exactly zero “sovereignty and territorial integrity” because of our totally open border that lets in millions of illegals; including cartels, criminals, terrorists and the Chinese made fentanyl that kills over a hundred thousand Americans every year.

    And then there’s Biden’s final lie that our sanctions will bankrupt Putin when the truth is that all of Europe is still buying Russian gas and oil because they can’t survive without it. So, the ruble is rising, and the dollar is crashing while we have sent 54 billion to Ukraine and Europe is funding Putin’s war machine. What insanity! So now there’s a new refugee crisis in Europe, hundreds of thousands will die, and Biden says we will send endless billions to Ukraine in a proxy war with Russia that we didn’t want, didn’t vote for and can’t win. Meanwhile, we are in a recession (soon to be a Depression) because of Biden’s destroying our energy independence and the ever increasing inflation caused by our government’s never ending money printing to support another endless war. And, oh yeah, he wants to spend another trillion here for that same “Green New Deal” that failed in Europe and is partly responsible for the Ukraine war and the coming food shortages. Had enough yet America?

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