The United States will send small arms and ammunition to Ukraine this week. This will be the last batch of military aid that is planned for the current year, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on December 8.
"President [U.S. Joe] Biden has approved a $60 million defense aid package, the final part of which arrives in Ukraine this week," Kirby said at a briefing for journalists.
According to him, the armed forces of Ukraine will receive "small arms and ammunition."
At the same time, as Kirby stressed, the United States does not plan to provide additional military assistance to Ukraine. In addition, the official representative of the Pentagon expressed the hope that the Ukrainian military will use various weapons, including the Javelin ATGM, "responsibly and for self-defense."
On December 7, it was reported that the draft US defense budget assumes the allocation of $ 300 million for military assistance to Ukraine. This is $50 million more than the request of the White House. In addition, the US authorities have provided for the allocation of $4 billion for the European Deterrence Initiative (EDI) of Russia. According to experts, this is 569.8 million higher than the request of the American administration.
On November 22, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov thanked the United States for its assistance in the military sphere. A week earlier, Washington handed over about 80 tons of ammunition to Kiev. These supplies are part of additional security assistance to Kiev, the total cost of which will be $60 million.
On November 24, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that sending military advisers and weapons to Ukraine by Western countries leads to further escalation on the contact line.