According to a US official, President Joe Biden is due to announce plans on Thursday to deploy further military aid to Ukraine to help it fight back against the Russian invasion. According to the official, who was not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, Biden will deliver a speech at the White House on Thursday morning outlining his plans to build on the roughly USD 2.6 billion in military assistance the administration has already approved for Ukraine.
The new package is believed to be comparable in size to the USD 800 million bundles revealed by Biden last week. It includes much-needed heavy artillery and ammunition for Ukrainian forces in the intensifying struggle for the Donbas area of eastern Ukraine. Earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his country will send heavy weaponry to Ukraine. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte also promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the Netherlands will deliver more heavy armaments, including armoured vehicles.
According to a senior US defence official, training on American 155mm howitzers has begun in a European nation other than Ukraine. As he assembled the nation’s military leadership for their first in-person group meeting at the White House under his president, Biden hailed US military officers for their great job equipping Ukraine. It’s an annual ritual that was put on pause due to the coronavirus outbreak but is now being revived as the US equips Ukraine to help it fight back against Russia’s invasion.
‘I don’t know about you, but I visited Ukraine several times before the war… And I knew they were strong and proud, but let me tell you something: they’re tougher and more proud than I imagined’, Biden informed military leaders. ‘I’m astounded by what they’re accomplishing with your assistance’. In the midst of the most intense combat in Europe since World War II, Biden summoned together the Pentagon’s senior civilian and uniformed officers. Russia’s almost two-month-old invasion of Ukraine was the subject of extensive discussions with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and combatant commanders.
Biden also took use of the occasion to reflect on his administration’s attempts to diversify Pentagon leadership. Biden also appointed Air Force Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost as chief of US Transportation Command and Army Lt. Gen. Laura Richardson as leader of US Southern Command. They are just the second and third female combat commanders. ‘It’s a significant landmark,’ Biden added. ‘I believe that speaks to how we are using our country’s strength and diversity.’
Following the conference, Biden and his wife Jill Biden held a meal in the White House Blue Room for military commanders and their spouses. The most recent such event occurred in October of this year. At the time, Donald Trump was president and facing a House investigation that could lead to his first impeachment, which was centred on allegations that he withheld military assistance from Ukraine in order to pressure the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, into digging up dirt on Biden’s adult son’s business dealings in Ukraine.
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