INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
United States President Joe Biden announced an additional $800 million in military assistance to Ukraine on Wednesday, expanding the scope
of the systems provided to include heavy artillery ahead of a wider Russian assault expected in eastern Ukraine, Reuters reported.The
package, which brings the total military aid since Russian forces invaded in February to more than $2.5 billion, includes artillery systems,
artillery rounds, armored personnel carriers and unmanned coastal defense boats, Biden said in a statement after a phone call with Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.Biden said he had also approved the transfer of additional helicopters, saying equipment provided to Ukraine
&has been critical& as it confronts the invasion.We cannot rest now
As I assured President Zelenskyy, the American people will continue to stand with the brave Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom,&
Biden said in a written statement.According to Reuters the new package includes 11 Mi-17 helicopters that had been earmarked for Afghanistan
before the United States -backed government collapsed last year
It also includes 18 155mm howitzers, along with 40,000 artillery rounds, counter-artillery radars, 200 armored personnel carriers and 300
additional &Switchblade& drones.This was the first time howitzers have been provided to Ukraine by the United States, read the
report.Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said some of the systems, like the howitzers and radars, will require additional training for Ukrainian
forces not accustomed to using American military equipment.We&re aware of the clock and we know time is not our friend,& Kirby said when
asked about the speed of deliveries.The new aid & first reported by Reuters on Tuesday & will be funded using Presidential Drawdown
Authority, or PDA, in which the president can authorize the transfer of articles and services from United States stocks without
congressional approval in response to an emergency.John Spencer, a retired United States Army major and expert on urban warfare at the
Madison Policy Forum, said he was excited to see that the United States was sending artillery and artillery rounds.You need these bigger,
more powerful weapons … to match what Russia is bringing to try to take eastern Ukraine,& Spencer said.As news of the latest security
assistance came out, executives from the top United States weapons makers met with Pentagon officials to discuss the industrial challenges
in the event of a protracted Ukraine conflict, Reuters reported.These included executives from BAE Systems Plc (BAES.L), General Dynamics
Corp (GD.N), Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII.N), L3Harris Technologies (LHX.N), Boeing Co (BA.N), Raytheon
Technologies Corp (RTX.N) and Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N).In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon said the discussion &focused
primarily on accelerating production and building more capacity across the industrial base for weapons and equipment that can be exported
rapidly, deployed with minimal training, and prove effective in the battlefield.Zelenskiy has been pleading with United States and European
leaders to provide heavier arms and equipment
Thousands have been killed and millions displaced in the seven-week-long invasion, Reuters reported.Russia has been unable to achieve most
of its military goals as Ukrainians have put up a fiercer-than-expected resistance, read the report.Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a
&special operation& to destroy Ukraine&s military capabilities and capture what it views as dangerous nationalists, but Ukraine and the West
say Russia began an unprovoked war of aggression.According to Reuters on Wednesday, Russia said it had taken control of the southeastern
Ukrainian port of Mariupol and that more than 1,000 Ukrainian marines had surrendered.The post United States gives Ukraine $800 million
more in military aid, adds heavy weapons first appeared on Ariana News.
