(Bloomberg) -- The US announced a new $225 million weapons package for Ukraine aimed at shoring up the country’s air-defense systems as deadly Russian missiles and drones continue to hit Ukrainian cities.
The new security assistance — announced on Thursday as the NATO summit continued in Washington, DC — features a Patriot missile battery as well as Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, according to a statement from the State Department.
Earlier this week, President Joe Biden announced that NATO allies were together sending Ukraine five long-range air-defense systems, including four Patriots and one SAMP-T from Italy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is in the US capital meeting with NATO leaders this week, has repeatedly asked for badly-needed air-defense systems to protect civilians, Ukrainian cities and the country’s crucial energy infrastructure.
The need for more air defense systems was brought home on Monday when at least 38 people were killed and nearly 200 wounded in a wave of Russian missile attacks on Ukraine, including a strike that hit the main children’s hospital in Kyiv.
The US security package announced Thursday, which will be provided under Presidential drawdown authority, also includes Javelin anti-armor missiles and more ammunition for the highly-valued high mobility artillery rocket systems, or Himars, among other things.
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