The package includes missiles for the NASAMS and Stinger air defense systems, rockets for HIMARS launchers, and artillery shells. The US will continue to work with โsome 50 Allies and partnersโ to โmeet Ukraineโs urgently needed battlefield requirementsโ, the White House said.
President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky by phone on Wednesday, promising to โintensify security assistance planning alongside international partners in order to ensure that Ukraine has the equipment it needs to prevailโ, according to a readout of the call.
Zelensky thanked the US for its support. โThe leadership of President Biden in uniting the world and the firm bipartisan support in America have been crucial and helped Ukraine to prevail and defend our independence,โ he wrote on Telegram.
The Ukrainian leader unveiled a five-point โvictory planโ on Wednesday, which is yet to be formally endorsed by Kievโs Western backers. NATO countries have so far declined Zelenskyโs requests to immediately invite Ukraine to join the US-led alliance, or to lift restrictions on the use of Western-supplied longer-range weapons for strikes deep inside Russia.
Ukraine has argued that these restrictions, together with delays in weapons deliveries, have contributed to its recent setbacks on the battlefield, as Russian troops have been steadily gaining ground in the Donbass.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has dismissed Zelenskyโs proposals as a โset of incoherent slogansโ. Moscow has repeatedly said that the conflict can only be settled on its terms.