US to send Ukraine new security aid worth $271 million
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The aid includes air defence munitions, artillery rounds, anti-armour capabilities, and additional mine-clearing equipment.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
WASHINGTON - The United States said on Monday that it will send Ukraine new security assistance valued at US$200 million (S$271 million).
The aid includes air defence munitions, artillery rounds, anti-armour capabilities, and additional mine-clearing equipment, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
Two US officials told Reuters on last Monday that they would begin to dole out US$6.2 billion of funds discovered after a Pentagon accounting error that overvalued billions of dollars of Ukraine aid.
In May, the Pentagon announced it had mistakenly assigned a higher-than-warranted value to the US weaponry
Ukraine needs weaponry that can be shipped from US stocks in a matter of days or weeks, so it can continue to repel Russia’s invasion. The accounting error works to Kyiv’s benefit because more equipment can be sent.
Beginning to use these discovered funds is significant because they represent the last of the previously congressionally authorised US$25.5 billion worth of Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) the administration can utilise to ship weapons from US stocks in the event of an emergency, the US officials said.
Washington is currently working on a supplemental budget request to continue to aid Kyiv, the US officials said.
Monday’s announcement of US$200 million would be the first tranche of a US$6.2 billion windfall of previously authorised PDA, the officials said. REUTERS
