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| Photo: VALENTYN OGIRENKO/REUTERS |
A new American military aid package is intended to help Kyiv push back Russian forces
As Ukraine prepares to resist a new Russian military assault in the east, it likely will be doing so with weapons and equipment the U.S. once considered too risky to provide to Kyiv, highlighting how the line between offensive and defensive assistance has blurred in recent weeks.
The shift in weaponry comes as Kyiv has made increasing pleas for military assistance in recent days, warning of potential Russian escalation and the potential for mass civilian casualties amid Russia’s expected offensive in the Donbas area. It also follows President Biden’s allegation that Russia was conducting “genocide” in Ukraine.
Mr. Biden on Wednesday announced $800 million in additional security assistance for Ukraine, including artillery, armored personnel carriers, and Humvees, bringing total military aid committed to Ukraine since he took office to more than $3 billion. The new package includes heavier weaponry than the U.S. previously had provided and—for the first time—American-made artillery pieces.
While U.S. officials in the past have debated whether the U.S. government should limit itself to providing Kyiv with weapons designed to defend the country from attack, that distinction appears to have grown fuzzier as Russia moved its forces deeper into Ukraine. Any weapons designed to push Moscow’s forces out of the country arguably could be considered defensive, so long as it doesn’t involve hitting targets inside Russia, say U.S. officials and outside experts.
William Taylor, vice president for Russia and Europe at the United States Institute of Peace, said that given the current state of conflict in Ukraine, “there’s no distinction to be made between offensive and defensive weapons.”
After failing to take Kyiv, Russian forces in recent days have pulled back from the Ukrainian capital and other northern cities and begun redeploying to southern and eastern Ukraine, where Moscow made early gains in the first weeks of the invasion. The latest arms package, which comes in parallel with greater intelligence sharing, is meant to help Ukrainian forces in the expected battle there. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Vadim Savitsky/RDM Press Service via AP |
Ukrainian forces hit the Russian flagship Moskva with two Neptune missiles in the Black Sea on Thursday, causing the vessel to sink the next day, the Pentagon said on Friday.
The determination was made based on the latest U.S. intelligence assessments, according to the Washington Post, and affirms what Ukrainian officials have said about there being a missile attack.
Russia's Defense Ministry said the Moskva, a missile cruiser that led the famous attack on Snake Island in the Black Sea at the start of the war with Ukraine, received damage on Wednesday to the hull during the fire from the detonation of ammunition, causing the crew of possibly hundreds to evacuate, but it has not given a cause for the blaze. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to +++++relevant+++++ and related stories:
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