US announces new Ukraine aid package

US President Joe Biden has unveiled a new military aid package for Ukraine worth $425 million, and promised more support in the future. 

The package includes missiles for the NASAMS and Stinger air defense systems, rockets for HIMARS launchers, and artillery shells. The US will continue to work with “some 50 Allies and partners” to “meet Ukraine’s urgently needed battlefield requirements,” the White House said. 

Biden spoke with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky by phone on Wednesday, promising to “intensify security assistance planning alongside international partners in order to ensure that Ukraine has the equipment it needs to prevail,” according to a readout of the call.

Zelensky thanked the US for its support. “The leadership of President Biden in uniting the world and the firm bipartisan support in America have been crucial and helped Ukraine to prevail and defend our independence,” he wrote on Telegram.

The Ukrainian leader unveiled a five-point “victory plan” on Wednesday, which is yet to be formally endorsed by Kiev’s Western backers. NATO countries have so far declined Zelensky’s requests to immediately invite Ukraine to join the US-led alliance, or to lift restrictions on the use of Western-supplied longer-range weapons for strikes deep inside Russia.

Ukraine has argued that these restrictions, together with delays in weapons deliveries, have contributed to its recent setbacks on the battlefield, as Russian troops have been steadily gaining ground in the Donbass.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has dismissed Zelensky’s proposals as a “set of incoherent slogans.” Moscow has repeatedly said that the conflict can only be settled on its terms.