The United States is set to provide $500 million in military aid to Ukraine as part of a last-minute effort by outgoing President Joe Biden to strengthen the nation’s defences before his term concludes early next year.
Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State unveiled the “significant package of urgently needed weapons and equipment” on Thursday, which will include High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, ammunition, drones and armoured vehicles.
The new assistance followed closely on the heels of a $988m security assistance package and a $725m weapons package announced earlier this month.
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After Thursday’s package, Biden will still have access to about $5.6bn of Presidential Drawdown Authority to rush weapons from US stocks to the front lines without congressional approval.
National Security spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday that Biden would “continue to provide additional packages right up to the end of this administration”.
The aid comes at a critical stage of the war, with Moscow’s troops closing in on the key city of Pokrovsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region after a months-long push.
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Ukraine’s military said in recent days that Russian troops destroyed or captured several Ukrainian positions near the city.
The fall of Pokrovsk, an important logistics centre for the Ukrainian military, would be one of Ukraine’s biggest military losses in months.
In parallel, Ukraine’s air force reported on Friday that Russia had launched a massive barrage of missiles and drones at its energy facilities during the morning rush hour, with power company Yasno reporting that around a half of its 3.5 million consumers were left without power.
Russia’s defence ministry, cited by Russian state news agency Interfax, said on Friday that it had carried out the large-scale assault – the 12th this year targeting the power grid – in retaliation for this week’s Ukrainian attack on a military airfield in the southern Rostov region using long-range Army Tactical Missile System missiles supplied by the US.
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