US announces $ 125 million defense package to Ukraine

The Pentagon announced Monday that it will provide a new military aid package to Ukraine for $ 125 million., including two armed patrol boats to help the country defend its territorial waters.

The remainder of the $ 150 million military aid package approved by Congress for fiscal 2021 will not be released until the Departments of State and Defense are able to certify to Congress that the Ukraine has made “sufficient progress on important reforms. Defense this year,” the Pentagon said.

“The ministry encourages Ukraine to continue enacting reforms that strengthen civilian control of the military, promote greater transparency and accountability of industry and defense., and modernize its defense sector in other fundamental areas in accordance with NATO principles and standards, ”the Pentagon said in a statement.

Ukraine has been embroiled in a costly conflict with Russia, which annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and supported pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine. The conflict, in its seventh year, claimed the lives of more than 14,000 people and devastated the industrial heart of Ukraine.

In addition to the two Mark VI patrol boats, the Pentagon has announced that it will provide radars to counter artillery; provide imagery and satellite capacity; and equipment to support military medical treatment and combat evacuation procedures.

“These actions reaffirm the United States’ commitment to provide lethal defensive weapons that allow Ukraine to defend itself more effectively against Russian aggression.yes, ”the Pentagon said.

Then-President Donald Trump’s December 2019 impeachment trial focused on allegations he refused military assistance to Ukraine as part of a plan to pressure the Ukrainian government to that he is investigating Joe Biden, who at the time was emerging as an electoral rival. Trump and in November 2020, he defeated him in the election. Trump was acquitted by the Senate in February 2020.

With AP information

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