The United States is expected to announce a new $150 million military aid package for Ukraine on Tuesday. The news was confirmed to VOA by two US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The new aid to Kiev comes as part of the president’s powers to provide emergency military assistance to another country in the event of a crisis.
One of the officials said the new aid would include munitions for the HIMARS missile systems as well as other important munitions. The same official said the package did not include cluster bombs.
Asked if the long-range missiles known as ‘ATACMS’ would also be part of the package, the American official said that “for security reasons, he would not go into further details”.
ATACMS tactical missiles can hit up to 300 kilometers away, about twice the range of Ukraine’s missiles.
Asked by VOA on June 12 whether the United States had provided Ukraine with additional ATACMS tactical missiles since mid-March, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Q. Brown said that “Washington is continuing to provide them through the authority enjoyed by the president to provide military assistance to another country in case of crises”.
Russia has accused Ukraine of using some of the U.S.-supplied tactical missiles of this type during attacks this week inside the Crimea region, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, as aggression against the Russian region of Belgorod, which lies on the border with Ukraine.
On Monday, Russia summoned the US ambassador to Moscow to protest the use of these missiles.
