The Biden administration plans to announce a $425 million military aid package for Ukraine on November 4, including missiles and anti-drone munitions, two senior White House officials said, quoted by AFP.
The package is not expected to include additional ATACMS missiles. Top Republicans in Congress have called on President Joe Biden to send longer-range missiles to Ukraine, despite pushback from some conservative lawmakers against more aid.
The planned aid package for Ukraine includes laser-guided munitions to shoot down Russian drones worth about $300 million. Funding for these munitions comes from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) program, which allows the Biden administration to buy weapons from industry rather than withdrawing them from the U.S. stockpile.
The remainder of the $125 million in promised weapons includes additional munitions for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), munitions for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), 105- and 155-mm artillery, anti-tank TOW weapons, Claymore anti-personnel mines, small arms and a dozen trucks, according to the officials, who spoke to the media on condition of anonymity.
These arms deliveries are made possible by the use of the president's downsizing authority, which authorizes Biden to transfer goods and services from the US stockpile without congressional approval in emergency situations.
The Biden administration still has about $5 billion of congressionally granted presidential withdrawal authority after the Pentagon found in June that it had overstated the value of weapons delivered to Ukraine due to a $6.2 billion accounting error.
The package is still being finalized and may change, White House officials said. /BGNES
