The aid package, worth around $820 million, was widely announced by US President Joe Biden on Thursday in Madrid, following a meeting of NATO leaders that focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Ukrainians continue to face brutality highlighted once again this week by a bombing that struck a mall full of civilians. They continue to fight for their country, and the United States continues to stand with them, them and their just cause,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement about the aid.
Ukrainian officials said a Kh-22 missile fired by a Russian bomber hit a crowded shopping mall in the central city of Kremenchuk on Monday, killing at least 19 people. The strike drew condemnation from Western leaders and the Pope, but Russia dismissed Ukraine’s story, saying the missile hit a Western-supplied weapons store next to the mall, causing a fire.
The Pentagon offered more details on Friday as it made the announcement official, and said the latest round of security assistance also includes additional munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
The counter-artillery radars sent are AN/TPQ-37 systems from Raytheon-Technologies, a senior defense official told reporters. This is the first time that these systems have been sent to Ukraine. Their effective range is about three times greater than that of AN/TPQ-36 systems previously dispatched.
The new US aid is intended to support Ukraine as it faces heavy shelling from Russian artillery. The intensification of Russia’s campaign of long-range missile attacks on Ukrainian cities comes as its forces have won battlefield success in the east, with a relentless assault in an attempt to force kyiv to cede two provinces to the separatists. .
Including the latest rounds of aid, the United States has now committed about $6.9 billion since Russian forces entered Ukraine on February 24 and brought all-out war to Europe.