Biden announces additional $1.39b in weapons, aid for Ukraine

BRUSSELS • President Joe Biden has announced a further US$1 billion (S$1.39 billion) in weapons and aid for Ukraine, as the United States and its allies met to craft a response to Kyiv's increasingly urgent calls for advanced arms to beat back Russia's invasion.

The package, detailed by Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin after a meeting with allies at Nato headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, includes more long-range artillery, anti-ship missile launchers and more rounds for howitzers and for a sophisticated American rocket system on which Ukrainians are being trained.

Mr Biden said in a statement that he had told Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky about the new weapons during a 40-minute call on Wednesday morning.

Western officials and arms experts caution that flooding the battlefield with advanced weapons is far slower and more difficult than it sounds, facing obstacles in manufacturing, delivery, training and compatibility - and in avoiding depletion of Western arsenals.

Mr Austin and Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov had a meeting at Nato headquarters with defence officials from some 45 countries, to try to assess what weapons Kyiv needed right now and how its allies could best provide them.

He said Germany would offer Ukraine three long-range, multiple-launch artillery rocket systems with ammunition. Slovakia is promising helicopters and ammunition, and Canada, Poland and the Netherlands have pledged more artillery.

Mr Austin and General Mark Milley, head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said they are providing even more weapons in many cases than Ukraine has sought.

Gen Milley said 97,000 anti-tank systems have been handed over, "more anti-tank systems than there are tanks in the world".

"When you're in a fight you can never get enough and never get it quick enough," Mr Austin told reporters.

"We remain focused on Ukraine's needs, and we understand what those needs are."

NYTIMES, BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE