Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov thanked the U.S. via Twitter for the $1.85 billion security assistance package given to Kyiv by Washington, providing details on the contents of the package.
The package will include a Patriot air-defense system and munitions, additional HIMARS ammunition, artillery rounds, mortar rounds and systems, MRAP vehicles, armored utility trucks, HARMs, munitions, night vision devices and optics, communication systems, grenade launchers and small arms, and “funding for training, maintenance, and sustainment.”
“Another package of U.S. military aid for the Ukrainian army is not a Christmas present,” Reznikov said. “This is what is necessary for work: on holidays and weekdays, day and night, in snow, rain, and heat.”
U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken announced $1.85 billion in military aid to Ukraine on Dec. 21, shortly before President Volodymyr Zelensky’s meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C.
The visit is Zelensky’s first overseas trip since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24.
The Patriot missile system would be the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has thus far provided to Ukraine.
The transfer of the system was previously blocked by “specific” NATO allies for months, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently said.
U.S. forces will train Ukrainian troops to use and maintain the Patriot system in a third country, most likely Germany, but it is unlikely that the air defense system will be delivered to Ukraine before spring, according to the Washington Post.
Russia has repeatedly attacked critical infrastructure across Ukraine since early October, killing dozens of people and causing power outages.
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