Defense Department announces $275 million military aid to Ukraine

Mike Brest

October 28, 12:49 PM October 28, 12:49 PM

The Department of Defense announced its latest military aid package to Ukraine, valued at roughly $275 million.

Deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh announced the new package during Friday’s press briefing, noting that this is the 24th presidential drawdown and that the Biden administration has now provided more than $18.5 billion in security assistance since the beginning of the administration.

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This aid does not include any significant new weapons, but it does include additional ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, 500 precision-guided artillery rounds, 2,000 155 millimeter rounds of remote anti-armor mind systems, more than 1,300 anti-armor systems, 2.75 million rounds of small-arms ammunition, four satellite communications antennas in total, and 125 humvees.

A day earlier, the State Department announced a new plan to ensure that weapons provided to Ukraine don’t fall into maligned actors. While the Ukrainian government “has committed to appropriately safeguard and account for transferred U.S.-origin defense equipment,” but keeping these weapons out of the hands of bad actors “is essential to post-conflict recovery and regional security.”

The policy specifically calls for the U.S. to enable Ukraine to document and account for weapons from allies properly, surging relevant training for officials in key roles regarding the safeguarding of these weapons, monitoring and investigating suspected weapons traffickers, and building the capacity of law enforcement officials and analysts in Ukraine and neighboring states.

"Intense internal demand for use on the battlefield by Ukrainian military and security forces within Ukraine is assessed to be impeding black-market proliferation of small arms and guided infantry weapons such as MANPADS and ATGMs from Ukraine," the release said. "Pro-Russian forces’ capture of Ukrainian weapons – including donated materiel – has been the main vector of diversion so far and could result in onward transfers. Russia probably will also use these weapons to develop countermeasures, propaganda, or to conduct false-flag operations."

“As in any conflict, we remain vigilant to the possibility that criminal and non-state actors may attempt to illicitly acquire weapons from sources in Ukraine, including members of the Russian military, during or following the conflict,” the State Department said in a statement about the release.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin shot down the possibility of providing Ukraine with longer-range weapons during a press briefing on Thursday, saying that the weapons already provided allow it to hit all necessary targets anyway.