WASHINGTON, Nov 27 (Reuters) – As President Joe Biden prepares to leave office in January, his administration is assembling a $725 million weapons package for Ukraine, sources within the U.S. government have confirmed.
Details of the Aid Package
According to an official familiar with the plan, the Biden administration intends to supply Ukraine with various anti-tank weapons from U.S. stockpiles to counter Russia’s advancing forces. The package will include land mines, drones, Stinger missiles, and ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
The package is also expected to contain cluster munitions, typically used in Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rockets fired from HIMARS launchers, as per a notification seen by Reuters.
Notification and Authorization
The formal notification to Congress about the weapons package could be issued as early as Monday, one official indicated. However, the contents and the amount of the package might change before Biden signs off on it.
This represents a significant increase in the size of recent aid packages under the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which allows the U.S. to pull from existing weapons stocks to assist allies in emergencies. Recent PDA announcements have typically ranged from $125 million to $250 million. Biden has approximately $4 billion to $5 billion in PDA funds already authorized by Congress that he is expected to use before Donald Trump, the incoming Republican President, takes office on January 20.
Controversial Landmines
The inclusion of landmines is particularly controversial due to their potential harm to civilians. Although over 160 countries have signed a treaty banning their use, Kyiv has been requesting them since Russia’s full-scale invasion in early 2022. The landmines in this package are “non-persistent,” with a short-lived power system, making them non-lethal once their power runs out. This design ensures they do not remain in the ground indefinitely, posing a threat to civilians.
Analysts and war bloggers have noted that Russian forces are currently making territorial gains in Ukraine at the fastest rate since the early days of the 2022 invasion, capturing an area roughly half the size of London over the past month.
The U.S. expects Ukraine to deploy the mines on its own territory, with a commitment not to use them in areas populated by its own civilians.
Trump’s Ukraine Strategy
On Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump announced Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general who presented him with a plan to end the war in Ukraine, as a special envoy for the conflict. Winding down the war in Ukraine was a key campaign promise for Trump, though he has avoided detailing how he would achieve this.
