{"id":31540,"date":"2024-04-20T22:23:51","date_gmt":"2024-04-20T22:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/20\/u-s-military-aid-for-ukraine-could-soon-flow-again\/"},"modified":"2024-04-20T22:23:51","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T22:23:51","slug":"u-s-military-aid-for-ukraine-could-soon-flow-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/20\/u-s-military-aid-for-ukraine-could-soon-flow-again\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Military Aid for Ukraine Could Soon Flow Again"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/19\/multimedia\/00dc-ukraine-aid-02-qfhv\/00dc-ukraine-aid-02-qfhv-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"U.S. Military Aid for Ukraine Could Soon Flow Again\" title=\"U.S. Military Aid for Ukraine Could Soon Flow Again\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Shipments of American weapons could begin flowing to Ukraine again soon after House approval of a long-stalled aid package, U.S. officials say, with goods from the Pentagon\u2019s stockpiles in Germany shipped quickly by rail to the Ukrainian border.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The measure would provide the Ukraine war effort with about $60 billion. A sizable amount is set aside to replenish U.S. defense stockpiles, and billions more would be used to purchase U.S. defense systems, which Ukrainian officials say are badly needed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Senate was expected to pass the legislation, and President Biden has said he would sign it into law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For months, Ukrainian military officials have complained that political paralysis in the U.S. Congress had created critical munitions shortages in the war against Russia. Ukrainian troops on the front lines have had to ration shells, and morale has suffered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">U.S. officials have not explicitly said which weapons the United States will send to Kyiv as part of the package, but Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters on Thursday that more air-defense and artillery ammunition would probably be included.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe have a very robust logistics network that enables us to move mat\u00e9riel very quickly as we\u2019ve done in the past,\u201d General Ryder said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe can move within days,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Transfers from the United States by cargo aircraft and maritime vessels <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/07\/03\/us\/ukraine-military-aid-weapons-us.html\" title=\"\">are typically arranged by the headquarters of U.S. Transportation Command<\/a>, in rural Illinois, which maintains extensive databases of cargo ports, railways and roads that can be used by military and civilian transport craft around the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Weapons and ammunition sent to Ukraine are often drawn from Pentagon assets in Europe, with shipments coordinated by an organization created in late 2022 called <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/11\/04\/world\/europe\/ukraine-biden-pentagon-military-assistance.html\" title=\"\">the Security Assistance Group-Ukraine, which is based in Germany and operates within the Pentagon\u2019s European Command<\/a>. It has a staff of about 300 people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Military leaders have sent Ukraine 55 aid packages of weapons called PDAs \u2014 for presidential drawdown authority \u2014 containing a mix of vehicles, ammunition, drones and other items worth at least $26.3 billion since August 2021.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The aid packages, which often came twice a month after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, slowed significantly last fall as some Republicans have become bitterly opposed to sending more aid to the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The last aid package, announced on March 12, included <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/06\/world\/europe\/ukraine-patriots-us.html\" title=\"\">Stinger antiaircraft missiles<\/a>, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/06\/01\/us\/ukraine-war-weapons.html\" title=\"\">guided rockets<\/a> for <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/09\/09\/us\/ukraine-weapons-rockets.html\" title=\"\">HIMARS launch vehicles<\/a>, small anti-tank rockets and 155-millimeter artillery ammunition that included <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/07\/07\/us\/cluster-weapons-duds-ukraine.html\" title=\"\">cluster munition rounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">General Ryder was asked about a nonbinding measure in the House legislation to send Kyiv weapons called <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/10\/06\/us\/ukraine-war-missile.html\" title=\"\">ATACMS<\/a>, which have been the Pentagon\u2019s longest-range ground-launched guided missiles since the late 1980s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Biden administration agreed to provide a small number of those missiles last year, and Ukrainian forces used them to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/10\/17\/world\/europe\/ukraine-atacms-attacks-russia.html\" title=\"\">strike two air bases in Russian-occupied territory in October<\/a>. Ukraine\u2019s special operations forces said the attack damaged runways and destroyed nine Russian helicopters among other targets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOf course as you know, we\u2019ve always said nothing is off the table,\u201d the general said of potential new provisions of ATACMS. \u201cBut I don\u2019t have anything to announce today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The United States has a limited number of these weapons, and officials have said that the rest of their ATACMS arsenal is reserved for contingency plans should the United States fight a war with Russia, North Korea or China.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Officials have also signaled that additional ATACMS could be provided to Ukraine as soon as the weapons\u2019 replacements, called Precision Strike Missiles, begin to enter the Pentagon\u2019s inventory.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Wednesday, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of both missiles, said the company delivered the first four operational Precision Strike Missiles to the U.S. Army last year. A $220 million contract signed in March will provide the U.S. Army with more, though it was not immediately apparent how many that would buy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The exact number of weapons the Pentagon has sent to Kyiv from its stockpiles is also unclear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The last time the Defense Department updated the number of 155-millimeter artillery shells it had provided to Ukraine was in May, when it said that more than 2 million such projectiles had been sent so far. Each of the 17 aid packages announced for Ukraine since then have included 155-millimeter ammunition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But sending more weapons to Ukraine depends on more than political will. The United States also has had to accelerate the production of the munitions Ukraine most needs to meet its demand.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the United States, making artillery ammunition <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2023\/02\/02\/us\/dc-ammunition.html\" title=\"\">takes several weeks<\/a>, as heavy steel bars are forged into empty projectiles in Scranton, Pa., then shipped to rural Iowa, where they are filled with explosives and prepared for delivery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">General Dynamics, which operates the Pennsylvania factory, is <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/09\/11\/us\/politics\/ukraine-aid-republicans.html\" title=\"\">opening a new factory to make metal shell bodies<\/a> outside Dallas to help increase total numbers of completed shells. The Army says it makes about 30,000 of the high-explosive shells each month, up from about 14,000 per month before Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Army\u2019s <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.army.mil\/article\/273152\/us_army_and_industry_partners_mobilize_to_boost_us_artillery_production\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">goal is to produce 100,000<\/a> 155-millimeter artillery projectiles per month by 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The United States is not alone in providing military aid to Kyiv.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since April 2022, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has convened <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/04\/26\/world\/europe\/lloyd-austin-ukraine-contact-group.html\" title=\"\">meetings of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group<\/a> roughly every month. The participants have included NATO nations, several of the United States\u2019 major non-NATO allies and at least two South American nations that previously purchased arms from the Soviet Union and Russia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The group solicits requests directly from Ukrainian military and civilian leadership.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nato.int\/cps\/en\/natohq\/news_224893.htm\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a virtual meeting of NATO defense ministers on Friday<\/a>, Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance\u2019s secretary general, said Germany would deliver an additional <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/12\/13\/us\/politics\/ukraine-us-patriot-missiles.html\" title=\"\">Patriot air-defense missile system<\/a> to Ukraine along with about $4.3 billion in military support from the Netherlands among other aid from NATO members.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cUkraine is using the weapons we provide to destroy Russian combat capabilities,\u201d Mr. Stoltenberg said in a statement. \u201cThis makes us all safer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSo support to Ukraine is not charity,\u201d he added. \u201cIt is an investment in our security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Robert Jimison<!-- --> and <!-- -->Helene Cooper<!-- --> contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/20\/us\/politics\/weapons-aid-ukraine-military.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shipments of American weapons could begin flowing to Ukraine again soon after House approval of a long-stalled aid package, U.S. officials say, with goods from the Pentagon\u2019s stockpiles in Germany shipped quickly by rail to the Ukrainian border. The measure would provide the Ukraine war effort with about $60 billion. A sizable amount is set [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/19\/multimedia\/00dc-ukraine-aid-02-qfhv\/00dc-ukraine-aid-02-qfhv-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[41,42,2198,221,1130],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31542,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31540\/revisions\/31542"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}