In the coming days, the Biden administration will announce another military aid package for Ukraine, NBC News and Reuters said among others. The new tranche, worth about $800 million, will include, among other things, thousands of artillery shells.
According to NBC News, citing administration sources, the new package will include tens of thousands of artillery shells. The total cost of the tranche should be around US$800 million, which is in line with the amount of the previous tranche, which was announced less than a week ago.
Artillery support and training package
For the first time, this package included artillery systems – 18 towed 155-mm howitzers with 40,000 rockets. According to television, this amount will be enough for about seven days. The administration should also encourage other countries to send artillery to Ukraine, which should play an important role in the battle for Donbass.
On Monday, the Pentagon announced that it would soon begin training in the handling of US howitzers. Ministry spokesman John Kirby said that while the weapon is different from the Ukrainian one, it won’t take long to become familiar with it.
Billions of dollars in aid
The total cost of military aid announced so far by the United States since the start of the new Russian invasion is approximately $2.6 billion, an amount equal to almost half of Ukraine’s entire annual defense budget.