The plan is for it to be presented by the Minister of Defence Lloyd Austin on Friday at a digital meeting with European and other colleagues of Austin in the so-called Ramstein group – the contact group for the defense of Ukraine – according to US sources.
The American package is part of a program for long-term support to Ukraine. It also means that it could take anywhere from months to years for the weapons and equipment it includes to end up in Ukraine.
The aid program, loosely translated as the “Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative”, has been around for a while but has been short of funds as proposals for new funding have been blocked in Congress. This week, however, the House of Representatives, first, and then the Senate, voted yes to support for Ukraine of just under 61 billion dollars.
Immediately afterwards, on Wednesday, the president wrote Joe Biden under the law for the support and a first arms shipment of hotly requested artillery shells, among other things, worth 1 billion dollars went on its way.
The now planned six billion package means that the US Department of Defense can order weapons on behalf of Ukraine from the defense industry for the corresponding amount.
