The United States will send a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine for the first time as part of a major weapons package worth $1.85 billion, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
The new lethal assistance, announced along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington, D.C., includes a billion dollars in presidential drawdown powers, prompting the US military to pull weapons from its own stocks to send to Kiev.
An additional $850 million in assistance will be provided through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, meaning that the Department of Defense will buy directly from industry.
The package will include a Patriot air defense battery and ammunition. The vehicle-mounted system is designed to hit medium and high-altitude targets such as rockets, fighter aircraft, bombers, and drones to protect military and civilian targets.
“Russia’s relentless and brutal air strikes against critical infrastructure have only reinforced the need to provide Ukraine with sophisticated air defense capabilities,” the Pentagon said in a statement. “On instructions from President Biden, the United States has prioritized providing air defense systems to help Ukraine protect its people from Russian aggression.”
Ukraine is currently facing a steady barrage of Russian rocket and drone attacks on its energy and electricity infrastructure. In attacks that killed civilians and severely crippled the power supply as the country sinks in winter. There are also fears that Russia could launch a major winter offensive if the ground hardens.
Until now, the United States had withheld sending the Patriot system to Ukraine because it feared that the war could escalate. However, the Biden administration has changed its position after weeks of deliberation over the top-secret technology the weapon contains.
The Pentagon said the Patriot would “contribute to a multi-layered defense to counter the full range of threats that currently threaten Ukraine’s cities and civilians” and strengthen the previous air defense capabilities that the United States has provided to the embattled country.
The weapons package also includes additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), 500 precision-guided 155 mm artillery shells, mortar systems and projectiles, 37 mine-resistant Cougar vehicles with ambush, 120 multi-purpose high-mobility vehicles, six armored commercial vehicles, high-speed defense missiles (HARMs), precision air ammunition, 2,700 grenade launchers, as well as small arms and other equipment and weapons.
Since Russia’s initial attack on the country on February 24, the United States has now pledged more than 21 billion dollars in military support to Ukraine.
Congress has also proposed $45 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine. This measure must be passed in both the House and Senate and signed by Biden.