US announces $125M military aid package for Ukraine

WASHINGTON, United States 

The United States announced on Friday that it would be sending a $125 million military aid package that includes Stinger missiles and anti-armor systems to Ukraine following multiple civilian deaths from a fresh Russian attack.

The package will be the 10th sent to Ukraine since U.S. President Joe Biden signed the Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act in April. 

The U.S. has approved $175 billion to be sent to Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in February 2022, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a foreign policy research group in New York.

The announcement of the package came hours after a Russian missile hit a supermarket in Kostiantynivka, Ukraine, killing at least 14 people and wounding 44. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on the social media platform X that “Russia will be responsible for this terror.” Russia has yet to comment on the attack.

Emergency services were working to find survivors who might have been buried under the rubble from the attack, according to Zelenskyy. Damage was reported to shops, homes, cars and a post office in the area.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement explaining the contents and purpose of the military aid package. 

“This $125 million package of support, provided under Presidential Drawdown Authority, includes air defense interceptors, munitions for rocket systems and artillery, multimission radars and anti-tank weapons that will help Ukraine protect its troops, its people and its cities from Russian attacks and reinforce its capabilities across the front lines,” it read.

The statement reaffirmed the United States’ support of Ukraine and said the U.S. “will deploy this new assistance as quickly as possible to bolster Ukraine’s defense of its territory and its people.”

In a post on X, Zelenskyy thanked Biden and the U.S. for the package.

“It is critical that the United States continues to take strong steps and demonstrate leadership in protecting Ukrainian freedom and European stability,” he wrote. “We appreciate the United States' support from the very first days of Russia's full-scale invasion, which has already allowed us to save many lives together.”

Russia has said it is facing a cross-border Ukrainian assault and declared a “federal-level” emergency Friday in its Kursk region. Russian and Ukrainian forces clashed in this area for a fourth consecutive day, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry.

Russia described it as one of the largest cross-border incursions by Ukrainian forces during the war, which started 2½ years ago with Moscow’s invasion.

At the same time, Reuters reported that Russian military personnel were in Iran and were being trained to use the Fath-360 close-range ballistic missile system. European intelligence sources reportedly said that they were expecting Iran to deliver the weapons to Russia.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S. and allies “are prepared to respond swiftly if Iran were to move forward with such transfers, which would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

A Russian Defense Ministry statement said its military and border guards had blocked Ukrainian forces from advancing deeper into the Kursk region in southwest Russia. It said the army was attacking Ukrainian combatants who were trying to advance from Ukraine's Sumy region.

Washington gave its approval of the Ukrainian operation. The incursion into the Kursk region "is consistent with our policy," Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said while briefing reporters Thursday.

Singh said the U.S. still did not support long-range attacks into Russia by Ukraine, but she noted that Ukrainian forces in Kursk "are taking actions to protect themselves from attacks that are coming from a region that are within the U.S. policy of where they can operate our weapons, our systems, our capabilities.”