US will send Ukraine $725 million more in counter-drone systems, anti-personnel land mines

The U.S. is preparing to send Ukraine an additional $725 million in military assistance, including counter-drone systems and munitions for its High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, which could indicate more of the longer-range missiles are headed to the battlefield.

By TARA COPP and MATTHEW LEE

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is preparing to send Ukraine an additional $725 million in military assistance, including counter-drone systems and munitions for its High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, which could indicate more of the longer-range missiles are headed to the battlefield.

It was unclear whether the munitions for the HIMARS are the coveted ATACMS — the Army Tactical Missile System — but Ukraine has been pressing for more of the longer-range missiles to strike additional targets inside Russia.

The package, announced Monday by the State Department, also includes more of the anti-personnel land mines that Ukraine is counting on to slow Russian and North Korean ground forces in Russia's Kursk region.

President Joe Biden has pledged to spend all of the military assistance funds Congress approved this year for Ukraine before the end of his administration on Jan. 20, which before Monday's announcement included about $7.1 billion in weapons that would be drawn from the Pentagon's stockpiles.

There is widespread speculation about what the new Trump administration will mean for Ukraine as the incoming president has promised to end the conflict. In a major shift, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled on Friday that an an offer of NATO membership to territory under Kyiv's control could end ''the hot stage of the war.''

about the writer

about the writer

TARA COPP and MATTHEW LEE

The Associated Press

More from Nation

card image

A police officer was killed Saturday after responding to a shooting at a central Pennsylvania hospital where the suspected gunman also was killed, officials said.

FILE - A Tesla owner charges his vehicle at a charging station in Topeka, Kan., Monday, April 5, 2021. Tesla reported 273 crashes involving partially automated driving systems, according to statistics released by U.S. safety regulators on Wednesday, June 15, 2022. But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration cautioned against using the numbers to compare automakers, saying it didn't weigh them by the number of vehicles from each manufacturer that use the systems, or how many miles those vehicles traveled. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner, File)