US announces $125 million in military aid for Ukraine

Updated 3/2/2021 at 10:55 am EST: During the announcement of the Ukraine package, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the equipment was being paid for by Foreign Military Financing dollars. The department later clarified that FMF funding was not used; instead this package is funded through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). This story has been updated to reflect that.

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon announced Monday a $125 million military aid package for Ukraine, the first of its kind under the Biden administration.

The package is funded through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, a Pentagon fund whose money was authorized by the FY21 NDAA. The biggest items included are two Mark VI patrol boats produced by SAFE Boats International, bringing Ukraine’s fleet up to eight of the vessels.

The package also includes “capabilities to enhance the lethality, command and control, and situational awareness of Ukraine’s forces through the provision of additional counter-artillery radars and tactical equipment; continued support for a satellite imagery and analysis capability; and equipment to support military medical treatment and combat evacuation procedures,” per a Pentagon statement.

There is still $150 million in fiscal 2021 Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funding appropriated by Congress, but that is gated off until the Defense and State departments jointly certify there has been “sufficient progress” made by Kyiv on military reform efforts.

“The [Defense] Department encourages Ukraine to continue to enact reforms that strengthen civilian control of the military, promote increased transparency and accountability in defense industry and procurement, and modernize its defense sector in other key areas in line with NATO principles and standards,” the department said in a statement.

The question of what arms and military aid the U.S. can give to Ukraine has been a touchy subject since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. The Obama administration hesitated to send lethal weapons, most notably Javelin anti-tank weapons, despite a push from members of Congress . The Trump administration later OK’d the sale of Javelins as well as further aid.

That sale would become a political flashpoint and central to the first impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.

Whether more Javelins may be included in the future is unclear, but Oleksandr Danylyuk, chairman of the Ukrainian Center for Defense Reform, said in a Feb. 18 interview that the weapons are no longer needed on the front lines because of how the conflict has shifted.

“Right now there is no need for [Javelins at the front] because despite that, we have clashes almost each day, and unfortunately we have casualties each day. They are mostly casualties inflicted by Russian [Federal Security Service] and GRU [intelligence agency] snipers — the main attacking force for the last period of conflicts,” Danylyuk said.

“They are not using tanks or any armored vehicles, not even much artillery in the last couple of months. It’s been snipers, which is why we definitely do not need any Javelins or Ukrainian anti-tank missiles to confront them.”

Aaron Mehta was deputy editor and senior Pentagon correspondent for Defense News, covering policy, strategy and acquisition at the highest levels of the Defense Department and its international partners.

Howard Altman is an award-winning editor and reporter who was previously the military reporter for the Tampa Bay Times and before that the Tampa Tribune, where he covered USCENTCOM, USSOCOM and SOF writ large among many other topics.

更新于美国东部时间2021年3月2日上午10:55：在宣布乌克兰援助方案时，五角大楼新闻秘书约翰·柯比表示，这批装备的资金来自外国军事融资（FMF）。国防部随后澄清，这笔资金并非来自FMF，而是来自乌克兰安全援助倡议（USAI）。本文已更新以反映这一变化。

华盛顿——五角大楼周一宣布向乌克兰提供1.25亿美元的军事援助，这是拜登政府上任以来的首例此类援助。

该援助计划由乌克兰安全援助倡议提供资金，该倡议是五角大楼的一项基金，资金由2021财年国防授权法案授权。其中最大的项目是两艘由SAFE Boats International公司生产的Mark VI型巡逻艇，这将使乌克兰的该型巡逻艇数量达到八艘。

根据五角大楼的一份声明，该方案还包括“通过提供额外的反炮兵雷达和战术装备来增强乌克兰部队的杀伤力、指挥控制和态势感知能力；继续支持卫星图像和分析能力；以及支持军事医疗和战斗撤离程序的设备”。

国会已拨款 1.5 亿美元用于 2021 财年的乌克兰安全援助计划，但这些资金将被冻结，直到国防部和国务院共同证明基辅在军事改革方面取得了“足够的进展”。

美国国防部在一份声明中表示：“国防部鼓励乌克兰继续推行改革，加强文官对军队的控制，提高国防工业和采购的透明度和问责制，并按照北约原则和标准，在其他关键领域实现国防部门的现代化。”

自2014年俄罗斯吞并克里米亚以来，美国可以向乌克兰提供哪些武器和军事援助一直是一个敏感话题。尽管国会议员极力推动，奥巴马政府仍对向乌克兰提供致命性武器，尤其是“标枪”反坦克导弹犹豫不决。特朗普政府后来批准了向乌克兰出售“标枪”导弹以及其他援助。

那笔交易后来成为一个政治焦点，也是唐纳德·特朗普总统第一次弹劾审判的核心。

未来是否会有更多标枪导弹被部署到乌克兰尚不清楚，但乌克兰国防改革中心主席奥列克桑德·丹尼柳克在 2 月 18 日的一次采访中表示，由于冲突的走向发生了变化，前线不再需要这些武器。

“目前没有必要在前线部署标枪导弹，因为尽管如此，我们几乎每天都发生冲突，而且不幸的是，每天都有伤亡。这些伤亡大多是俄罗斯联邦安全局和格鲁乌（情报机构）狙击手造成的——他们是最近一段时间冲突的主要攻击力量，”丹尼柳克说。

“他们近几个月来既没有使用坦克，也没有使用任何装甲车辆，甚至连火炮都很少用。他们一直都是狙击手，所以我们绝对不需要标枪导弹或乌克兰反坦克导弹来对抗他们。”

Aaron Mehta 曾任《国防新闻》副主编兼五角大楼高级记者，负责报道国防部及其国际合作伙伴最高层的政策、战略和采购事宜。

霍华德·奥特曼是一位屡获殊荣的编辑和记者，他曾担任《坦帕湾时报》的军事记者，此前还曾担任《坦帕论坛报》的军事记者，报道过美国中央司令部、美国特种作战司令部和特种作战部队等众多主题。