US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced $1 billion in Washington\u2019s support for Ukraine, which will include depleted uranium munitions for the first time, the media reported. According to CNN, the munitions \u2014 which are mildly radioactive because they are made from dense metal, a byproduct from fuel production for nuclear power plants \u2014 can be fired from the US-made Abrams tanks that are expected to arrive in Ukraine later this year. The package also includes air defence system components, Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems for HIMARS, munitions, ammunition, and communications systems, the State Department said, adding that these weapons will come from Pentagon stocks. In terms of long-term military support, the new package commits $100 million in military support, through the foreign military financing program, the Department said. More than $200 million from the new package will also go towards support for transparency and reform; bolstering efforts on anti-corruption; rule of law; and the justice sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe US will also use the funding for transparency-related efforts to direct funding towards Ukraine\u2019s capacity to both investigate and prosecute war crimes; invest in reconstruction efforts; and strengthen the country\u2019s financial management practices,\u201d CNN quoted the Department as saying. Meanwhile, the humanitarian assistance portion of the package totaling $206 million will go towards critical support including food, water, and shelter to those in Ukraine and those forced to flee to neighboring countries. There will also be more than $90 million in humanitarian assistance specifically for demining, the Department said.<\/p>\n
Addressing a news conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Kiev on Wednesday, Blinken said: \u201cIn the ongoing counteroffensive, progress has accelerated in the past few weeks. This new assistance will help sustain it and build further momentum.\u201d Later in the day, the Secretary of State also met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky \u201cto convey the US\u2019 unwavering commitment to Ukraine and its people\u201d. With the President, \u201cI discussed longer-term sustainable security arrangements, which will provide ongoing security assistance and modern military equipment across land, air, sea and cyberspace, as well as training and intelligence share\u201d, CNN quoted Blinken as saying.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe State Department is leading these discussions, which will continue in the months ahead,\u201d he added. On his part, Zelensky said that hewas \u201cgrateful to the American people, both parties of the US Congress, and personally to President Joe Biden for their unwavering support\u201d. \u201cUkrainian forces are advancing on the battlefield and we discussed steps to ensure their further successes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced $1 billion in Washington\u2019s support for Ukraine, which will include depleted uranium\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":2864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[586,585,265,95],"class_list":["post-2863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-anthony-blinken","tag-military-aid","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-usa"],"reading_time":"3 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}