New U.S. $2.85B military aid package for Ukraine to include Bradley fighting vehicles – National | 24CA News

The U.S. will ship Ukraine almost $3 billion in army assist, in a large new package deal that may for the primary time embrace a number of dozen Bradley preventing automobiles, U.S. officers mentioned Thursday, within the Biden administration’s newest step to ship more and more deadly and highly effective weapons to assist Ukraine beat again Russian forces.

The assist — totaling about $2.85 billion — is the biggest in a sequence of packages of army tools that the Pentagon has pulled from its stockpiles to ship to Ukraine. It is geared toward getting as a lot to the Ukrainian forces as potential through the winter months, earlier than spring units in and an anticipated enhance in preventing begins.

An announcement is predicted Friday, mentioned the officers, who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of particulars of the package deal haven’t been publicly introduced.

President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed in a joint assertion Thursday that the U.S. would offer Bradleys to Ukraine whereas Germany would offer Marder armored personnel carriers. The assertion didn’t reveal the variety of automobiles the nations supposed to produce.

The Bradley preventing automobiles are medium-armored fight automobiles that may function a fortified troop service on the battlefield. It has tracks somewhat than wheels, however is lighter and extra agile than a tank. It can carry about 10 personnel, and is seen as a vital approach to transfer troops safely into battle.

Also included within the assist package deal will likely be HUMVEES, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected automobiles, or MRAPs, and a considerable amount of missiles and different ammunition, based on U.S. officers.

The assist comes on the heels of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dramatic go to to Washington final month, when he slipped secretly out of his war-torn nation for the primary time to thank America and predict that 2023 could be a “turning point” within the battle. In urging extra assist for his nation’s battle effort, he advised Congress, “Your money is not charity,” and as a substitute is ”an funding within the world safety and democracy that we deal with in essentially the most accountable approach.”

Zelenskyy and different Ukrainian officers have pressed Western leaders to offer extra superior weapons, together with armored automobiles and Patriot missile batteries. The $1.85 billion assist package deal final month included for the primary time a Patriot battery, essentially the most superior surface-to-air missile system the West has supplied to Ukraine within the battle effort. It additionally supplied an undisclosed variety of Joint Direct Attack Munitions kits, to switch large bombs by including tail fins and precision navigation programs to allow them to be guided to a goal.

The German authorities in a press release Thursday introduced it could additionally present Ukraine with a Patriot missile battery.

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