US to announce more military aid worth $400 million to Ukraine: Report

The United States is set to announce more military package to war-hit Ukraine on Friday, with Reuters news agency reporting it to be roughly worth $400 million, mainly ammunition.

Though the amount of the package hasn’t been revealed officially, two US officials who are familiar with the deal told Reuters that it would cost the US $400 million.

The military deal contains more Guided Multiple Launch Rockets (GMLRS) for HIMARS launchers, ammunition for the Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and armoured vehicle launched bridges.

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According to reports, the military aid will be funded by the Presidential Drawdown Authority, in which the president can authorise the transfer of articles and services from US stocks without congressional approval in response to an emergency.

It is reported that President Joe Biden will discuss aid for Ukraine during his meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House on Friday.

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Earlier in the day while briefing reporters, White House spokesperson John Kirby did reveal the price tag of the new aid package, saying that more details would be released shortly.

When asked if potential sanctions against China would be a topic for Biden and Scholz, he said, "I certainly would expect in the context of talking about what's going on in Ukraine that the issue of a third party support to Russia could come up."

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, the UShas pledged more than $30 billion in security assistance to Kyiv that includes artillery, missiles, small arms, armoured vehicles, radar systems, drones, body armour, millions of rounds of ammunition and more.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers meeting in India’s capital New Delhi, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday where the US official urged Moscow to end the war and reverse its suspension of the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) on nuclear weapons, a senior US official told Reuters.

This 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.

(With inputs from agencies)

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