The United States sends another $ 400 million in military aid to Ukraine And establish a security assistance headquarters in Germanywho will oversee all arms transfers and military training in Ukraine, the Pentagon said Friday, AP reports.
The new command postcalled the Security Assistance Group of Ukraine, reports a a long-term program to continue to assist Kiev in its fight against RussiaPentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters at the Pentagon. It will be led by a three-star senior non-commissioned officer and will have about 300 employees who will oversee weapons assistance and training programs, said US Army spokesman for Europe, Colonel Martin O’Donnell.
$ 400 million includes contracts for 1,100 Phoenix Ghost drones, funding to upgrade 45 tanks and another 40 river boatsamong other systems, the Pentagon said.
The drone The Phoenix Ghost is an armed kamikaze drone“which explodes on contact with its target.
Tanks T-72 they are drawn from the existing inventory of the defense industry in the Czech Republic – paid for by the Netherlands – and will have it advanced packages of optics, communications and armor. They are part of a common package of 90 tank T-72, which will be sent to Ukraine by 2023, the Pentagon said.
This package also includes means to upgrade surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles Hawk so that they can be supplied to Ukraine to help defend against Iranian drones.
The missile system is no longer used by the United States, but the missiles, once upgraded, will give another to Ukraine medium range air defense capabilitiesSingh said. Hawk missiles have a longer range than the Stinger anti-aircraft missiles previously deployed by the United States.
As the weapons are delivered through Ukraine’s Security Assistance Initiative, they will not be ready for immediate transfer to Kiev. Weapons supplied through US funding are obtained through long-term industrial contracts rather than being extracted from US arms stocks.
The United States has provided Ukraine with over $ 18.2 billion in arms and other equipment since the war began on February 24.
The new command post was established as the US focuses on long-term efforts to improve accountability for billions of dollars in US arms to Ukraine and ensure they don’t fall into the wrong hands.
Last week The State Department has outlined how it is trying to prevent some of these more advanced weapons from being stolen or falling into Russian handsbut he acknowledged that securing arms liability is particularly difficult during active warfare and when there is not a large US presence on the ground.
The plan includes limited on-site monitoring by US military personnelPentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder said this week.
“When and where safety conditions allow, a small team of employees of the US Embassy in Kiev – Office of the Defense Attache, conducted numerous inspections of supplies US security assistance in recent months to locations in Ukraine, “Ryder said.” These locations are nowhere near the front line of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
