US provides $270 million in military aid to Ukraine
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The military aid is part of Washington's $40 billion package of security assistance to Ukraine.
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The Phoenix Ghost drone
The White House announced Friday its intention to provide an additional $270 million worth of US "security assistance" to Ukraine.
The military aid will include four HIMARS rocket artillery launchers, a large quantity of ammunition, and hundreds of Pheonix Ghost drones, according to AP, citing the National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.
The aid package will also include 580 drones and 36,000 rounds of artillery ammunition for the M777 towed howitzers which have already been supplied to Ukraine by the Pentagon.
Kirby told AFP that Biden, who is recently being treated for COVID-19, “has been clear that we’re going to continue to support the government of Ukraine and its people for as long as it takes."
As of Friday, the US administration will have spent a total of $8.2 billion on funding the war in Ukraine. This includes the $40 billion package which was approved back in May.
Washington has previously sent Ukraine around 120 of the Pheonix Ghost drones, which have been “rapidly developed by the Air Force in response specifically to Ukrainian requirements,” the Pentagon said back in April.
Read more: Ukraine attacks Europe's largest nuclear power plant with drones
Biden's security advisor, Jake Sullivan, advised sending more drones because he claimed that Iran was preparing to sell many hundred drones to Russia. There is no evidence that upholds such a claim thus far.
On Friday, four HIMARS launchers and one ammunition transport vehicle were destroyed by precision missile strikes between July 5 to July 20, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
On Wednesday, reports arose that three Ukrainians suicide drones targeted Europe's largest nuclear power plant, the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, in Energodar, damaging the facility. It wasn't clear whether the drones were Phoenix Ghosts or a US-made Switchblade.
Washington keeps insisting on impartiality from the war in Ukraine, yet it continues to send drones, weapons, ammunition, intelligence and technology, essentially funding the war.
