US to provide additional $1 billion in military assistance to Ukraine

MOSCOW (AA) - Washington will provide a new assistance package for Ukraine totaling more than $1 billion, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced.

Speaking at a news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv late Wednesday, during a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital, Blinken said part of the funds will be used to support Ukraine's military needs in the long term.

For the first time, part of these funds, some $5.4 million, comes from money taken from Russian businessmen who were sanctioned, and will be used to support Ukrainian veterans, Blinken noted.

On its website, the State Department said that since the end of February 2022, when Russia launched the war, Washington has allocated $43.2 billion in military aid to Kyiv, $2.9 billion in humanitarian aid, and sent $20.5 billion in budget support through the World Bank.

Separately, also on Wednesday, the Pentagon announced the allocation of another package of military assistance to Kyiv in the amount of $175 million, including for the first time depleted uranium shells for Abrams tanks.