The Pentagon has announced it will provide millions of dollars more in military assistance for Ukraine to help it fight with Russia, as Washington deepens its involvement in the Ukraine conflict.
The $275 million package includes include more High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers, various types of 155 mm artillery rounds, anti-armor systems, small arms ammunition and four satellite communications antennas, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists on Friday.
"We're seeing Ukrainian infrastructure and electrical grids being targeted by the Russians and these antennas provide an additional capability on the ground at a critical time when Ukraine's infrastructure is being hit," Singh said.
The news was first reported by the Reuters news agency on Thursday.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said that the flow of weapons to Ukraine will continue as he claimed the added arms “have made such a difference on the battlefield.”
The latest aid package brings Washington's total security assistance commitments for Ukraine to more than $18.5 billion since early 2021, and nearly $18 billion since Russia launched a military operation in February.
Russia has repeatedly warned that supplying Kiev with more and more weapons will only exacerbate the conflict, which is now in its ninth month.
Continuously flooding Ukraine with weapons "will only drag the conflict out and make it more painful for the Ukrainian side, but it will not change our goals and the end result," the Kremlin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said earlier this month.
Peskov insisted that the US was in reality engaged in the Ukraine conflict. "The US de facto has become deeply involved," he said.
His remarks echoed those of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said that Washington had "been participating de facto in this war for a long time."
"This war is being controlled by the Anglo-Saxons," Lavrov said.
Meanwhile, Russia revealed last week that a large portion of the weapons provided to the Kiev regime by the US and its allies was headed to the black market and then into the hands of extremist and criminal groups in the Middle East, Central Africa and Asia.