The US will provide new military aid to Ukraine. According to reports by the US press citing unnamed US officials, US President Joe Biden’s administration is preparing to supply Ukraine with an additional military aid package that will include defense systems against unmanned aerial vehicles and ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The officials stated that the military aid package also includes anti-personnel landmines that Ukraine requested to slow down the advance of Russian and North Korean forces, but did not provide information on whether the ammunition to be supplied for HIMARS was the long-range US missile system ATACMS, which Ukraine had previously used to strike Russian territory.
The new US aid decision to Ukraine comes as Russian forces have made their fastest advance in eastern Ukraine since 2022 in recent weeks.
Before handing over power to President-elect Donald Trump on January 20, US President Biden had pledged to use all military aid funds approved by the US Congress for Ukraine this year. The Biden administration’s acceleration of aid to Ukraine is thought to be due to uncertainty about how Trump’s appointment, which aims to end the conflict in Ukraine, will affect the situation there.