US President Joe Biden has announced a further $800 million in taxpayer-funded military aid to Ukraine, adding to the $200 million promised to the embattled nation on Saturday.
Among the lethal items promised to the US ally on Wednesday are 9,000 anti-armor systems, 7,000 small arms, 800 anti-aircraft missiles, 20 million rounds of ammo, body armor, and drones. Biden announced the details just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an emotional appeal for military aid to the US Congress via video link.
The package represents “direct transfers of equipment from our Department of Defense to the Ukrainian military to help them as they fight against this invasion,” the president declared, adding that the US would also be helping Kiev acquire “additional longer-range anti-aircraft systems.”