Biden Administration Plans to Send Another $800 Million Weapons Package to Ukraine

The Biden administration is privately planning to send another $800 million weapons package to Ukraine, CNN reports.

The details are still being discussed and could change, according to the report, but President Joe Biden acknowledged on Tuesday that the administration is discussing additional military assistance.

The new package could be approved in the coming days.

The new package comes days after the administration sent another $800 million aid package that included artillery and anti-artillery radars for the first time.

The administration is rushing to speed up delivery of the weapons and equipment as Russia enters a new phase in its assault on eastern Ukraine.

If approved, the new package would bring total US assistance to Ukraine to $3.4 billion since Russia’s invasion in February.

Biden has the authority to approve the package himself but Congress would have to approve any future assistance.

Russia focuses on Mariupol:

Russian forces have focused on Mariupol, where troops defending the city have been forced to retreat into a steel plant amid Russia’s bombardment.

The city, which had more than 400,000 residents before the invasion, is in a critical area that would effectively provide Russia land bridge between Crimea in the south and the Donbas region in the east.

The US and other allies have rushed to provide Ukrainian forces with new weapons for the different terrain in the east, which is much more open and has a lot of farmland.

Refugees top 5 million:

The number of refugees that have fled the country in less than eight weeks has swelled to more than 5 million, the UN refugee agency said Wednesday.

The UN previously estimated that up to 4 million could flee the country in a worst-case scenario.

The refugees “have left behind their homes and families,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi tweeted Wednesday. “Many would do anything, and some even risk going back, to see their loved ones. But every new attack shatters their hopes. Only an end to the war can pave the way for rebuilding their lives.”

 

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