AMN/ WEB DESK
The Pentagon on Friday announced a new package of 150 million US Dollars in military assistance for Ukraine that will include counter-artillery radar, electronic warfare equipment and counter-drone technology. The latest tranche of assistance will come in addition to the 125 million US Dollars that the Pentagon announced on 1st of March, which included armed Mark-VI patrol boats. The assistance is aimed to bolster the country amid elevated tensions with Moscow.
Ukraine’s Defence Minister Andrii Taran said that the decision to provide the second part of the security package was timely and reasonable. He added that the country has received almost 2.5 billion US Dollars in defence assistance from Washington between 2014 and 2021.
Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden had told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that he will stand up for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity ahead of a meeting between Mr Biden and Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Geneva on 16th of June.
Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 and backed a pro-Russian separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine which triggered a conflict that has killed more than 14,000 people. Tensions have flared again in recent months after the two countries traded blame for a surge in fighting in Ukraine’s Donbass and Russia, in what it called a defensive exercise, massed troops on its border with Ukraine and in Crimea.