Artillery, air defense, ammunition and more: Biden announces largest tranche of assistance to Ukraine

US President Joe Biden congratulated Ukrainians on Ukraine’s Independence Day and announced a tranche of assistance worth $2.98 billion.

This is stated on the website of the White House.

These funds will be spent on air defense systems, artillery systems and ammunition, unmanned aircraft systems and radars in order to “continue to defend itself over the long term.”

“I know this independence day is bittersweet for many Ukrainians as thousands have been killed or wounded, millions have been displaced from their homes, and so many others have fallen victim to Russian atrocities and attacks. But six months of relentless attacks have only strengthened Ukrainians’ pride in themselves, in their country, and in their thirty-one years of independence. Today and every day, we stand with the Ukrainian people to proclaim that the darkness that drives autocracy is no match for the flame of liberty that lights the souls of free people everywhere,” Joe Biden said on Ukraine’s Independence Day.

It should be recalled that not long ago the United States announced a package of assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $775 million. It included:

• additional ammunition for high mobility missile and artillery systems (HIMARS);
• 16 105mm M119 howitzers (the American designation for the L119 light howitzer used by the US Army) and 36,000 105mm artillery rounds to them;
• 15 ScanEagle unmanned aerial systems;
• 40 MaxxPro Mine and Ambush Protected Armored Vehicles (MRAPs) with mine trawls;
• Additional high-speed anti-radar missiles (AGM-88 HARM);
• 50 armored high-mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWV);
• 1500 tube-launched, optical and wire-guided (TOW) missiles;
• 1,000 Javelin anti-tank systems;
• 2000 anti-tank shells (ammunition for 84-mm launchers of the Carl Gustav’s family);
• equipment and systems for demining;
• demolition ammunition;
• tactical secure communication systems;
• night vision devices, thermal imaging systems, optics, laser rangefinders.