US sends another $2.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine

On Thursday, the Pentagon announced it would send $2.5 billion worth of additional military aid to Ukraine, including 90 Stryker combat vehicles for the first time and another 59 Bradley combat vehicles.

The latest package will also be added to the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), National Advanced Air Defense Systems and Avenger Air Defense Systems, which the Pentagon says will “counter a range of short- and medium-range missiles.” threats and strengthen the layered air defense of Ukraine.

The latest package is missing the M1 Abrams tanks that Kyiv has been asking for in recent months.

FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian servicemen unload a shipment of military aid delivered as part of US security assistance to Ukraine at Boryspil International Airport near Kyiv, Ukraine.
(Reuters/Valentin Ogirenko)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looked disappointed at the “lack of special weapons” at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Switzerland on Wednesday.

“There are times when we shouldn’t hesitate or compare when someone says, ‘I’ll give tanks if someone else shares their tanks,'” Zelensky said through an interpreter.

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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said last week that the British would send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, increasing pressure on the US to send Abrams tanks and Germany to send Leopard 2 tanks.

PHOTO: A US Army M1A1 Abrams tank fires during NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup 2021 Crystal Arrow exercise in Adazi, Latvia March 26, 2021.
(Reuters/Ints Kalniņš/Photo from file)

The US is sending 90 Stryker combat vehicles to Ukraine.
(Michael Siaglo/Getty Images)

Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, and other lawmakers from various political circles have spoken out in support of sending American tanks to Ukraine.

“Now the German tanks are a little better suited to the Ukrainian army and its supply and logistics systems,” Cotton told Dana Perino in an interview with America’s Newsroom on Thursday.

“But I’m sure, given the weapons systems we’ve already provided to Ukraine, we could also support US Abrams tanks heading into Ukraine.”

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The latest aid package for Ukraine came the day before Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is scheduled to meet in Germany with allied defense ministers.

Rescuers gather at the explosion site on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine.
(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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Since the Russian invasion in February 2022, the US has sent more than $26.7 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine.

Thursday’s package also includes 350 Humvees, 53 mine- and ambush-proof vehicles, three million small arms rounds and 2,000 anti-tank missiles.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.