US plans $400 million arms package for Ukraine
The United States is planning a new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine that is expected to comprise mainly ammunition including Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) for HIMARS launchers, ammunition for Bradley Fighting Vehicles, as well as armoured vehicle-launched bridges.
Sources say the aid package is expected to be a major topic between U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz when they meet at the White House.
The United States has provided nearly $32 billion in weaponry to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia, which invaded its pro-Western neighbour on Feb. 24 last year.
Biden and Scholz could also touch on concerns that China may provide lethal aid to Russia, a senior administration official said.
The Biden administration is sounding out close allies about the possibility of imposing new sanctions on China if Beijing provides military support to Russia, U.S. officials and other sources said.
The year-long conflict has killed thousands, displaced millions, pulverised Ukrainian cities, shaken the global economy and created a Cold War chill in international relations.
At the G20 foreign ministers meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to end the war and urged Moscow to reverse its suspension of the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) on nuclear weapons, a senior U.S. official said.
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It was the first in-person encounter between the top diplomats since the invasion. The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov and Blinken spoke “on the move” for less than 10 minutes.
Bakhmut front line
Meanwhile, General Staff of the Ukraine Military said on Friday that in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces repelled more than 85 attacks in the five principal sectors of the Bakhmut front line.
Russia, which lost territory in the second half of 2022, says taking Bakhmut would be a step towards seizing the rest of the surrounding industrial region known as the Donbas. Ukraine says the city has limited strategic value but wants to exhaust Russian forces.
“We need as much ammunition as possible. There are many more Russians here than we have ammunition to destroy them. The number of enemy soldiers is not what matters. What matters is technology.” Volodymyr Nazarenko, a deputy commander in the National Guard of Ukraine said.
The General Staff said in its morning report that Russia continued to target civilians, something Moscow denies, with air and missile strikes in Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts.
“The enemy continues to violate the norms of International Humanitarian Law. There are wounded civilians, high-rise apartment buildings and private houses are damaged,” it said.
Zainab Sa’id
