Pentagon to send $250M in weapons to Ukraine

The Department of Defense plans to send $250 million in military equipment to Ukraine to assist in building up the country's military capabilities as it continues to counter Russian-backed forces in its eastern provinces. The aid package will include sniper rifles, grenade launchers, and counter-artillery radars for the Ukrainian Navy, special operations forces, and land troops. Electronic warfare detection equipment, night vision technology, and military medical equipment will also be included. This additional equipment brings total U.S. security assistance to Ukraine to $1.5 billion since 2014, according to the Pentagon.

"I think the provision of security assistance to Ukraine is vitally important. I think it has had an impact both psychologically as well as militarily on the professionalization and the capacity of the Ukrainian forces," Kurt Volker, the U.S. special representative for Ukraine, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a Tuesday hearing. "I think it’s also important that Ukraine reciprocate with foreign military purchases from us as well, and I know that they intend to do so."

The assistance comes at a pivotal moment for Ukraine's newly minted president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a popular comedian who won a landslide victory in April. Zelensky has made ending the Russian-backed insurrection in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region his top political priority. The conflict remains in an uneasy stalemate following international attempts to broker a ceasefire. Tensions spiked in November when Russian forces captured and detained 24 sailors following an attack on three Ukrainian vessels. "We must become Icelanders in football, Israelis in defending our native land, Japanese in technology," Zelensky said during his swearing-in speech in May. "Our first task is to achieve a ceasefire in Donbas."

Volker told senators the United States should continue to add maritime and air defense capabilities to the Ukrainian arsenal as Russia continues to pose a threat in the Black Sea. "I think it’s important that NATO stand up to make clear that all of us have an interest in the freedom of navigation, the open access, the economic development of the region, and the security of the region," he said.

The U.S. created the European Deterrence Initiative in 2014 in response to Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea territory. Congress authorized the sale of lethal aid to Ukraine that year, but the Obama administration did not sign off on the provision due to concerns that offensive weapons could escalate tensions. U.S. support was limited to non-lethal aid until President Trump reversed the policy in 2017, though his administration proposed a 10% cut to the fund in this year's budget proposal.

Rick Berger, a former Senate Budget Committee staffer who studies defense budgets for the American Enterprise Institute, told the Washington Examiner there is broad bipartisan support for continuing aid to Ukraine. He expects Congress will increase Ukrainian military support, saying there is minimal concern regarding escalation on Capitol Hill. "These aid packages are very well tailored to the things that, by and large, the Ukrainian military actually needs," Berger said. "Congress cares about Ukraine in a bipartisan fashion, and I wouldn't be surprised if [aid] goes up again in this year's" National Defense Authorization Act. The fate of next year's defense budget remains unclear, however, as congressional leaders wrangle over the federal budget as a whole.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/pentagon-to-send-250m-in-weapons-to-ukraine