INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced a fresh United States infusion of $1 billion in weapons for Ukraine that includes anti-ship
rocket systems, artillery rockets, howitzers and ammunition.In a phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Biden said he told
the embattled leader about the new weaponry.The United States is providing another $1 billion in security assistance for Ukraine, including
additional artillery and coastal defense weapons, as well as ammunition for the artillery and advanced rocket systems,& Biden said in a
statement after the 41-minute call.The president also announced an additional $225 million in humanitarian assistance to help people in
Ukraine, including by supplying safe drinking water, critical medical supplies and healthcare, food, shelter, and cash for families to
purchase essential items.The latest weapons packages for Ukraine include 18 howitzers, 36,000 rounds of ammunition for them, two Harpoon
coastal defense systems, artillery rockets, secure radios, thousands of night vision devices and funding for training, the Pentagon said.In
Kyiv, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he had talked to Secretary of State Antony Blinken to thank him for the &crucial
military assistance& from the United States.(I) emphasized that we urgently need more heavy weapons delivered more regularly,& he said on
Twitter. The aid packages, which come as United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is meeting with allies in Brussels, were split into
two categories: transfer of excess defense articles from United States stocks and other weapons being funded by the Ukraine Security
Assistance Initiative (USAI), a separate congressionally authorized program.Russia&s U.N
Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia on Wednesday accused Western countries of &fighting a proxy war with Russia,& telling reporters: &I would like
to say to the Western countries supplying weaponry to Ukraine & the blood of civilians is on your hands.Ukraine is pressing the United
States and other Western nations for speedy deliveries of weapons in the face of increased pressure from Russian forces in the eastern
Donbas region.Oleksandra Ustinova, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, told reporters at an event organized by the German Marshall Fund:
&We need all these weapons to be concentrated in a moment to defeat the Russians, not just keep coming every two or three weeks.In May, the
Biden administration announced a plan to give Ukraine M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems after receiving assurances from Kyiv that
it would not use them to hit targets inside Russian territory
Biden imposed the condition to try to avoid escalating the Ukraine war.The rocket artillery in this aid package would have the same range as
previous United States rocket shipments and is 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, said a source
who spoke on condition of anonymity.For the first time, the United States is sending ground-based Harpoon launchers
In May, Reuters reported the United States was working on potential solutions that included pulling a launcher off of a United States ship
to help provide Harpoon missile launch capability to Ukraine. Harpoons made by Boeing Co (BA.N) cost about $1.5 million per missile,
according to experts and industry executives.The post Biden announces new $1 bln in weapons for Ukraine, Kyiv seeks more heavy arms first
