The White Home authorised a brand new spherical of $200 million price of arms and tools for Ukraine, administration officers stated on Saturday. The transfer comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has requested for worldwide assist in opposition to the Russian invasion, and simply in the future after Russia stated it might goal western weapons provides being delivered to Ukraine.
The brand new provides embrace Javelin antitank missiles and Stinger antiaircraft missiles, administration officers informed media retailers. The assist brings the overall price of US weapons despatched to Ukraine since January 2021 to $1.2 billion, and $3.2 billion since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea.
Russians have to this point not attacked US weapons shipments however threatened on Friday to take action.
“We warned the USA that the orchestrated pumping of weapons from a variety of international locations is not only a harmful transfer, it’s a transfer that turns these convoys into legit targets,” Russian Deputy International Minister Sergei Ryabkov stated on Russian state TV, in line with Al-Jazeera.
Ryabkov stated that Russia had warned “concerning the penalties of the inconsiderate switch to Ukraine of weapons like man-portable air protection techniques, anti-tank missile techniques and so forth.”
Zelenskyy has referred to as for western powers to assist arrange a no-fly zone—a request that NATO international locations have rejected out of concern that it might be seen as escalation in opposition to Russia. The USA has additionally declined to ship different varieties of army assist, together with Polish warplanes, citing comparable issues.