U.S. Unveils $2-B Ukraine Arms Package, Russia Sanctions

The Biden administration has slapped new sanctions on Moscow and approved a new $2 billion weapons package to re-arm Kyiv a year after Russia’s invasion, Fatima Hussein and Lolita C. Baldor reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: The weapons package includes the upgraded Switchblade 600 Kamikaze attack drone.

The weapons package includes more ammunition, electronic warfare detection equipment, and other weapons to counter Russia’s unmanned systems, and several types of drones, including the upgraded Switchblade 600 Kamikaze attack drone.

The latest aid package uses the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) to provide funding for longer-term contracts to buy weapons and equipment.

“Difficult times may lie ahead, but let us remain clear-eyed about what is at stake in Ukraine,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “to ensure that a world of rules and rights is not replaced by one of tyranny and turmoil.”

Biden said in an ABC News interview on Friday that he’s not ready to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Zelenskyy has been pressing the US and allies for jets, but White House officials have pushed back that they are not the weaponry that Ukrainians need in the near term.

“There is no basis on which there is a rationale, according to our military now to provide F-16s,” Biden said. “I am ruling it out for now.”

Meanwhile, the White House said that new sanctions hitting over 200 people and entities will “further degrade Russia’s economy and diminish its ability to wage war against Ukraine.”

The Biden administration will also further restrict exports to Russia and raise tariffs on some Russian products exported to the US.

“Now, not only does Ukraine stand, but the global coalition in support of Ukraine is stronger than ever, with the G7 as its anchor,” Biden said on Twitter following Friday’s virtual meeting with Zelenskyy.

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