US to send Ukraine dozens of Bradleys in $2.85B aid package
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will ship Ukraine almost $3 billion in navy help, in an enormous new bundle that may for the primary time embody a number of dozen Bradley combating automobiles, U.S. officers mentioned Thursday, within the Biden administration’s newest step to ship more and more deadly and highly effective weapons to assist Ukraine beat again Russian forces.
The help — totaling about $2.85 billion — is the biggest in a sequence of packages of navy tools that the Pentagon has pulled from its stockpiles to ship to Ukraine. It’s geared toward getting as a lot to the Ukrainian forces as potential through the winter months, earlier than spring units in and an anticipated enhance in combating begins.
An announcement is anticipated Friday, mentioned the officers, who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of particulars of the bundle haven’t been publicly introduced.
The Bradley combating automobiles are medium-armored fight automobiles that may function a fortified troop provider on the battlefield. It has tracks quite than wheels, however is lighter and extra agile than a tank. It might carry about 10 personnel, and is seen as a essential technique to transfer troops safely into battle.
Additionally included within the help bundle will probably be HUMVEES, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected automobiles, or MRAPs, and a considerable amount of missiles and different ammunition.
The help comes on the heels of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dramatic go to to Washington final month, when he slipped secretly out of his war-torn nation for the primary time to thank America and predict that 2023 could be a “turning level” within the battle. In urging extra help for his nation’s struggle effort, he instructed Congress, “Your cash will not be charity,” and as an alternative is ”an funding within the world safety and democracy that we deal with in essentially the most accountable manner.”
Zelenskyy and different Ukrainian officers have pressed Western leaders to offer extra superior weapons, together with armored automobiles and Patriot missile batteries. The $1.85 billion help bundle final month included for the primary time a Patriot battery, essentially the most superior surface-to-air missile system the West has offered to Ukraine within the struggle effort. It additionally offered an undisclosed variety of Joint Direct Assault Munitions kits, to switch huge bombs by including tail fins and precision navigation techniques to allow them to be guided to a goal.
