Washington, February 24 – The United States will announce a new $2 billion aid package for Ukraine on Friday, CNN reported.
“The (US President Joe) Biden administration is expected to announce another $2 billion for the Ukraine Defense Support Initiative,” the channel said, quoting an unnamed official.
It is noteworthy that the new aid package does not include the allocation of equipment from Pentagon warehouses and will become a request for manufacturers. The channel notes that it will take “significantly longer” to deliver such equipment, but the change in approach also shows that the United States is committed to providing long-term assistance to Kiev.
The Russian Federation had earlier sent a note to NATO countries over the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has indicated that any shipment containing weapons to Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russia. The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that NATO countries were “playing with fire” by supplying arms to Ukraine. The press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, noted that the injection of weapons into Ukraine from the West does not contribute to the success of the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative impact. Lavrov stated that the United States and NATO are directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, including not only the supply of weapons, but also the training of personnel in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and other countries.
