The U.S. is providing about $425 million in new military aid to Ukraine that includes air defense interceptors, munitions for rocket systems and artillery, armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons, the Pentagon announced Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Kindsey Calvert/U.S. Marine Corps)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. is providing about $425 million in new military aid to Ukraine that includes air defense interceptors, munitions for rocket systems and artillery, armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons, the Pentagon announced Friday.
The aid will be provided through the presidential drawdown authority, which means equipment is pulled from existing U.S. military stocks and sent to Ukraine on an emergency basis.
The announcement comes shortly after Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday said the U.S. would provide more security assistance to Ukraine after Pentagon officials reported earlier in the week that 10,000 North Korean soldiers were training in Russia.
Blinken said during a news conference following a meeting with Austin and South Korea’s foreign affairs and defense ministers that 8,000 North Korean troops have deployed to Russia’s Kursk region and the U.S. expects to see them fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine in the coming days.
“Russia has been training [North Korean] soldiers in artillery, [drones], basic infantry operations, including trench clearing, indicating that they fully intend to use these forces in front-line operations,” he said.
Austin had said Wednesday following an initial meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun that North Korean troops are being outfitted in Russian uniforms and equipment as they move from training in eastern Russia to the Kursk region. He acknowledged North Korean troops joining the fight in Ukraine could encourage other nations to take action. But he did not elaborate.
The U.S. last month provided $825 million in assistance to Ukraine, including Austin making an announcement during a surprise visit to Kyiv.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently outlined a “victory plan” for ending the conflict in Ukraine by next year. The plan includes a formal invitation for Ukraine to join NATO and permission to use Western long-range missiles to strike military targets in Russia — two steps that allies have been reluctant to support previously, The Associated Press reported.
Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the Ukraine invasion, more than 600,000 Russian troops have been killed or injured in the fighting there, Pentagon officials have said. The estimate is a sharp increase from estimates early in the year that were in the 350,000 range.
“Russia has been suffering some 1,200 casualties a day in the east, more than at any other time during the war,” Blinken said.
The U.S. has provided about $60.4 billion in military aid to Ukraine since Russian forces invaded in February 2022.
The items in the military aid announced Friday include:
• Munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems.
• Stinger missiles.
• Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems equipment and munitions.
• Air-to-ground munitions.
• Ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems.
• 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition.
• Tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided missiles.
• Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems.
• Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers.
• Small arms and ammunition.
• Medical equipment.
• Demolitions equipment and munitions.
• Spare parts, ancillary equipment, services, training and transportation.
