The new aid package is expected to include ammunition for the high-mobility artillery rocket system (HIMARS).
Reuters on November 3 quoted US officials as saying that President Joe Biden's administration plans to announce a $425 million military aid package for Ukraine, including anti-drone rockets and ammunition.
The planned aid package for Ukraine includes about $300 million worth of laser-guided munitions to shoot down Russian drones. Funding for the weapons will come from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) program, which allows the U.S. government to buy weapons from industry rather than from military stockpiles.
The remaining $125 million includes additional ammunition for the NASAMS air defense system, ammunition for the high-mobility artillery rocket system (HIMARS), 105 and 155 mm guns, TOW anti-tank weapons, Claymore mines, small arms and dozens of trucks.
However, the new aid package is not expected to include additional ATACMS missiles. Several senior Republicans have urged President Biden to send long-range missiles to Ukraine, despite opposition from some conservative lawmakers against providing additional aid.
The White House still has about $5 billion in presidential funding approved by Congress , after the Pentagon discovered in June that it had overestimated the value of weapons being shipped to Ukraine. The U.S. has provided about $44 billion in security aid to Ukraine since the start of the war in Ukraine.
In another development, TASS news agency on November 3 quoted Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov as saying that the more the US increases its supply of weapons to Ukraine, the better the Russian army will be at destroying them.
"It seems that the US policy on Ukraine has failed. There is no counterattack. The situation today is that the US continues to increase its arms supplies, but our armed forces can destroy these weapons very well," he told Russia's Channel One.
In addition, he accused the US of "not being ready to have a serious dialogue with us, whether it is about Ukraine or the Middle East." According to him, the US is on "an island of freedom and prosperity that allows them to solve all problems themselves, but things do not work this way."
He said he had met with US officials to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian issue a few days ago. Washington did not immediately comment on the allegations.
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