The munitions include medium-range cluster rounds from the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, which Ukrainian forces have used repeatedly to target Russian headquarters units and troop formations, a senior U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. The United States has previously sent the rounds, which have a range of about 100 miles. U.S. officials declined to say whether they also are sending long-range ATACMs munitions, which Ukrainian officials have sought for months.
“It is assistance that Ukraine desperately needs to hold the line against Russian attacks and to push back against the continued Russian onslaught in the east and in other parts of Ukraine,” Sullivan said.
Ukraine’s momentum in the war, now in its third year, has begun to flag as its front-line units face dwindling weapons supplies and Russian forces make a renewed push to break through defensive positions. In his State of the Union address last week, Biden implored lawmakers to pass legislation that would unlock an additional $60 billion to assist the government in Kyiv, but the bill, which also includes money meant to help Israel and counter China, has stalled amid a bitter debate in the Republican-led House.
The $95 billion measure passed the Senate on a bipartisan basis in February, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has refused to hold a vote on it. His tenuous hold on the speakership has come under threat from members of his party who have sought to condition any additional aid for Ukraine on the adoption of new immigration measures that Democrats say are too severe. Former president Donald Trump also has encouraged House Republicans not to pass the bill, despite the significant bipartisan support it has in the Senate.
The Biden administration has approved the transfer of more than $44 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to invade in February 2022, but money approved by Congress ran dry in January, Biden administration officials had said.
In a separate briefing, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, called the move an “extraordinary measure” as Ukraine faces an “existential fight.”
“But this does not change the fact that we urgently need Congress to pass DOD’s supplemental request,” Ryder said. “Today’s … package, while providing urgent capabilities to Ukraine’s forces, is nowhere near enough, and the only way to meet Ukraine’s battlefield needs is for Congress to swiftly pass the supplemental.”
Ryder, asked why the Pentagon did not disclose before now that this money was available for Ukraine, said defense officials identified the amount only in the last few weeks. He declined to say when exactly the additional weapons and ammunition will be delivered but predicted it will be “fast.” The package will probably help to sustain Ukraine for a period of “weeks,” Ryder said.
Ukrainian military personnel interviewed by The Washington Post this year have said they must ration the shells they have to launch at Russian adversaries as their stocks run low. After a bitter fight, Ukrainian forces last month were forced to withdraw from the strategically significant eastern city of Avdiivka, with some caught behind enemy lines.
Leaders in Kyiv, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have said that vital air defense weapons also are in increasingly short supply, leaving the country’s civilian population more vulnerable to incoming missile and drone attacks.
CIA Director William J. Burns, appearing on Capitol Hill this week alongside other senior U.S. intelligence officials, told lawmakers that with undisrupted infusions of American military aid, “Ukraine can hold its own on the front line” into next year and continue to attack Russian targets both beyond its borders and in the Black Sea. Without U.S. weapons, he warned, the Ukrainians stand to lose “significant ground.”
“The Ukrainians are not running out of courage and tenacity,” Burns said. “They’re running out of ammunition. And we’re running out of time to help them.”
