US to send 375 million dollars in new military aid to Ukraine – officials

The US will send Ukraine an undisclosed number of medium-range cluster bombs and an array of rockets, artillery and armoured vehicles in a military aid package totalling about 375 million dollars, US officials have said.

Officials expect an announcement on Wednesday, as global leaders meet at the UN General Assembly and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky uses his appearance there to shore up support and persuade the US to allow his troops to use long-range weapons to strike deeper into Russia.

The following day, Mr Zelensky will meet with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington.

The aid includes air-to-ground bombs, which have cluster munitions and can be fired by Ukraine’s fighter jets, as well as munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (Himars), Javelin and other anti-armour systems, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, bridging systems and other vehicles and military equipment, according to officials.

The US officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the aid has not yet been publicly announced.

The latest package of weapons, provided through presidential drawdown authority, is one of the largest approved recently and will take stocks from Pentagon shelves to deliver the weapons more quickly to Ukraine.

It comes as nearly six billion dollars in funding for aid to Ukraine could expire at the end of the month unless Congress acts to extend the Pentagon’s authority to send weapons from its stockpile to Kyiv.

Congressional leaders announced they reached an agreement on Sunday on a short-term spending bill, but it is unclear if any language extending the Pentagon authority to send weapons to Ukraine will be added to the temporary measure as negotiations with Congress continue.

Ukrainian and Russian forces are battling in the east, including hand-to-hand combat in the Kharkiv border region where Ukraine has driven Russia out of a huge processing plant in the town of Vovchansk that had been occupied for four months, officials said on Tuesday.

At the same time, Ukrainian troops continue to hold ground in Russia’s Kursk region after a daring incursion there last month.

The aid announcement comes on the heels of Mr Zelensky’s highly guarded visit on Sunday to a Pennsylvania ammunition factory to thank the workers who are producing one of the most critically needed munitions for his country’s fight to fend off Russian ground forces.

Including this latest package, the US has provided more than 56.2 billion dollars in security assistance to Ukraine since Russian forces invaded in February 2022.