Dette bryter med USAs tidligere standpunkt om at de ikke vil levere våpen/missiler som kan nå russisk territorium. Det kan Patriot som er langtrekkende bakke-til-luft missil. (Red.)
White
House announces Patriots for Ukraine amid
Zelenskyy
visit
Dec 21, 08:21 PM
WASHINGTON
— The State Department on Wednesday announced the United States will provide
Ukraine a Patriot missile defense system as part of the latest $1.85 billion tranche
of military aid for Kyiv to defend against Russia’s invasion.
The
announcement came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has sought
the Patriot system for months, landed in Washington for a meeting with
President Joe Biden and an address to Congress in his first trip abroad
since the war started.
“Today’s
assistance for the first time includes the Patriot Air Defense System, capable
of bringing down cruise missiles, short-range ballistic missiles and aircraft
at a significantly higher ceiling than previously provided air defense
systems,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
The
aid package includes $1 billion in presidential drawdown authority for Biden to
send weapons to Kyiv from existing U.S. stocks, including the Patriot system,
and another $850 million for future assistance provided via the Ukraine
Security Assistance Initiative. The Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative
allows the Pentagon to contract for new weapons and equipment to Kyiv.
Still,
the Biden administration has resisted calls from Zelenskyy and some lawmakers
on Capitol Hill to provide
Ukraine with long-range missiles and advanced Gray Eagle
drones amid concerns about escalating Russia-NATO tensions and
fears sensitive U.S. technology could land in Moscow’s hands.
The
presidential drawdown package includes additional ammunition for the 20 U.S.
High Mobile Artillery Rocket Systems Ukraine already has, 37 Cougar
Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles, 120 High Mobility Multipurpose
Wheeled Vehicles and 2,700 grenade launchers as well as an assortment of other
small arms.
The
future assistance in the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative package
includes additional ammunition as well as SATCOM terminals and services, which
allow aircraft to communicate with air traffic control.
The
latest announcement brings the total amount of U.S. military aid provided to
Ukraine to $21.9 billion since Biden took office.
The
new package and Zelenskyy’s visit come as Congress prepares to vote
on a $1.7 trillion government
funding bill this week that includes $45 billion in emergency military,
economic and humanitarian spending for Ukraine — $6.2 billion
more than the White House asked for in its November supplemental funding
request. Of that $45 billion, $27.9 billion
is for the Pentagon to continue the influx of military support for Kyiv.
If
Congress passes the bill by the Dec. 23 deadline to avert a government
shutdown, it will bring the total amount of Ukraine aid Congress has passed
since the war started to more than $100 billion.
More
than half of that spending will have gone to the Pentagon for Ukraine aid —
$61.4 billion if the government funding bill passes. That includes
billions in funding to backfill U.S. munitions sent to Kyiv under presidential
drawdown authority.
The
spending bill and the fiscal 2023 National
Defense Authorization Act, which Congress passed last week, includes funding for
munitions replenishment alongside a series of provisions intended to expedite
their production by waiving
certain Pentagon contracting restrictions and authorizing the Defense
Department to use multiyear contracts.
But a growing
contingent of Republicans, many of whom are aligned with former president
Donald Trump, have grown increasingly wary of the price tag and have vowed to
cut off future U.S. assistance to Ukraine when they take
control of the House in two weeks.
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