U.S. officials say U.S. arms shipments could start flowing again to Ukraine as soon as a long-stalled aid package is signed into law, with Pentagon stockpiles in Germany being sent by rail to the Ukrainian border. It is expected to be transported quickly.
The measure would provide about $60 billion to Ukraine’s war effort. Significant amounts have been set aside to replenish U.S. defense stockpiles, and billions more will be used to buy U.S. defense systems, which Ukrainian officials say is desperately needed. are doing.
In a statement Saturday after the House approved the aid package, President Biden urged the Senate to take immediate steps to meet the “urgent battlefield needs” of Ukraine’s military. It was expected to take place as early as Tuesday.
Ukrainian military officials have complained for months that political paralysis in the U.S. Congress is causing critical military shortages in the war against Russia. Ukrainian troops on the front lines have had to ration shells and morale is low.
U.S. officials have not said specifically what weapons the U.S. will send to Kiev as part of the package, but Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters Thursday that more He said it was likely to include air defense ammunition and artillery shells. .
“We have a very strong logistics network that allows us to move supplies as quickly as we have in the past,” General Ryder said.
“We can move within a few days,” he added.
Transportation by cargo aircraft or ships from the United States is typically arranged by the U.S. Transportation Command in rural Illinois. The command maintains an extensive database of cargo ports, railroads, and roads available to military and civilian transport vessels around the world. .
Weapons and ammunition sent to Ukraine are often drawn from Pentagon assets in Europe, with shipments being coordinated by an organization called the Ukraine Security Assistance Group, created in late 2022. The organization is based in Germany and operates within the Department of Defense’s European Command. We have about 300 staff members.
Military leaders have sent 55 weapons aid packages, known as PDAs, to Ukraine since August 2021, including vehicles, ammunition, drones, and other items worth at least $26.3 billion due to the president’s funding mandate. .
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, aid measures have often been delivered twice a month, but some Republicans have become fiercely opposed to additional aid to the country, and last fall has slowed down significantly.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin on Saturday welcomed Congress’ action on the aid package.
“The world is still watching,” he warned in a statement. “Lives are still at stake. America’s long-term security remains at stake. We must never give our friends, rivals, and enemies any reason to doubt America’s resolve.”
The last aid package announced on March 12 included Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, guided rockets for the HIMARS rocket, small anti-tank rockets, and 155-millimeter artillery shells, including cluster munitions.
General Rider was asked about a nonbinding measure in the House bill to send a Kyiv weapon called ATACMS, the Pentagon’s longest-range ground-launched guided missile since the late 1980s.
The Biden administration agreed to provide a small number of these missiles last year, and the Ukrainian military used them to attack two air bases in Russian-occupied territory in October. Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces said the attack damaged an airstrip and destroyed nine Russian helicopters, among other targets.
“Of course, as you know, we have always said nothing is off the table,” the general said of the possibility of new ATACMS provisions. “But we have nothing to announce today.”
The United States has a limited number of these weapons, and officials say the rest of the ATACMS arsenal is reserved for contingency planning in the event the United States goes to war with Russia, North Korea, or China. He said that it has been done.
Officials also indicated that additional ATACMS could be provided to Ukraine once an alternative weapon called a precision attack missile begins entering the Pentagon’s inventory.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of both missiles, said the company delivered its first four operational precision attack missiles to the U.S. military last year. A $220 million contract signed in March will provide the U.S. military with even more funding, although it was not immediately clear how much would be purchased.
It is also unclear exactly how many weapons the Pentagon sent to Kiev from its stockpile.
The last time the Pentagon updated the number of 155mm shells it had delivered to Ukraine was in May, when it said more than 2 million such shells had been sent to Ukraine. Since then, 155 mm ammunition has been included in each of the 17 aid packages announced for Ukraine.
But sending more weapons to Ukraine depends on more than political will. The United States also needs to accelerate production of the munitions that Ukraine needs most to meet its needs.
In the United States, the production of artillery ammunition involves heavy iron rods being forged into empty projectiles in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and transported to rural Iowa, where they are filled with explosives and prepared for delivery. It will take several weeks.
General Dynamics, which operates the Pennsylvania factory, plans to open a new factory outside Dallas to manufacture metal shell bodies to increase the total number of finished shells. The Army says it produces about 30,000 high-explosive shells each month, up from about 14,000 a month before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Army’s goal is to produce 100,000 155mm shells per month by 2025.
The United States is not the only country providing military aid to Kiev.
Since April 2022, the Secretary of Defense has convened meetings of the Ukrainian Defense Liaison Group almost every month. Participants include NATO countries, several of the United States’ major non-NATO allies, and at least two South American countries that have previously purchased weapons from the Soviet Union and Russia.
The group solicits requests directly from Ukrainian military and civilian leaders.
After Friday’s virtual meeting of NATO defense ministers, the alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Germany would receive additional military assistance from the Netherlands, along with about $4.3 billion in military aid, among other aid from NATO members. He said he would provide Ukraine with the Patriot air defense missile system. .
“Ukraine is using the weapons we have provided to destroy Russia’s combat capabilities,” Stoltenberg said in a statement. “This will make us all safer.”
“Therefore, aid to Ukraine is not charity,” he added. “This is an investment in our safety.”
Robert Jimison and helen cooper Contributed to the report.
