President Biden has announced an additional billion dollars in military aid for Ukraine, the largest single military aid package since Russia invaded.
The nato defence ministers are meeting in Brussels for the summit’s final day and this is the kind of military aid that Ukraine says it desperately needs, a billion-dollar package that includes longer-range rocket and missile systems. The purpose is to assist target Russian troops and sites from afar while also bolstering Ukraine’s beleaguered defence forces in the eastern Donbas region. According to the US Defense Secretary, this is a critical time in the fight.
He said Russia had shifted its focus to the Donbas the challenge facing Ukraine could not be underestimated the stakes were high
United States announced the strengthening of our defences and an extra one billion dollars support package is coastal defence artillery and modern rocket systems we are waiting I’m extremely grateful for the support which is especially important for our defence forces in the Donbas – Volodymyr Zelenskyy
The war is at a critical stage in eastern Ukraine but the latest aid for Ukraine includes supplying safe drinking water critical medical supplies and food as we say. It’s also trying to resolve some of the wider problems caused by the war.
I think we’re working really hard not just with the leadership in Ukraine but in the region to try to relieve the pressure that has resulted from Mr Putin literally weaponizing food and so the president’s looking at a range of options here to uh to try to see if we can get grain out and into the market um and that’s a that’s tricky business – John Kirby (white house foreign policy spokesperson)
The US has now committed more than 6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration but this is a country facing its own financial crisis news of a higher-than-expected hike in interest rates and talk of a possible recession is a greater concern for something a potentially protracted war in Europe a political tightrope for Joe Biden to navigate thank you in the months ahead.
