US will send Ukraine $725M in counter-drone tech, anti-personnel mines

Editor’s note: This story was updated Monday, Dec. 2, 2024, with additional reporting by Defense News and The Associated Press.

The U.S. is preparing to send Ukraine an additional $725 million in military assistance, including counter-drone systems and munitions for its High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, which could indicate more of the longer-range missiles are headed to the battlefield.

It was unclear whether the munitions for the HIMARS are the coveted ATACMS — the Army Tactical Missile System — but Ukraine has been pressing for more of the longer-range missiles to strike additional targets inside Russia.

The package, announced Monday by the State Department, also includes more of the anti-personnel land mines that Ukraine is counting on to slow Russian and North Korean ground forces in Russia’s Kursk region.

President Joe Biden has pledged to spend all of the military assistance funds Congress approved earlier this year for Ukraine before the end of his administration on Jan. 20, which before Monday's news included about $7.1 billion in weapons that would be drawn from the Pentagon’s stockpiles.

There is widespread speculation about what the new Trump administration will mean for Ukraine as the incoming president has promised to end the conflict. In a major shift, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled on Friday that an offer of NATO membership to territory under Kyiv’s control could end “the hot stage of the war.”

As of Monday morning, the Pentagon had the authority to send $6.8 billion in equipment to Ukraine and around $5 billion to replace what it sent, though those figures don’t account for the latest package. It also has another $2.2 billion in long-term security aid through a separate program intended to sustain support over time.

“The bottom line is, at the president’s direction, we will spend every dollar that Congress has appropriated for Ukraine and to replenish our stockpiles,” said Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder in a Monday briefing with reporters.

Still, at the current pace of one security package every two to three weeks, the U.S. is not on pace to spend that money by Jan. 20, when Trump will take office. The Pentagon is limited by the size of its inventories, which can’t dip below a certain level lest it jeopardize its own ability to fight in a crisis.

When asked about that rate, Ryder wouldn’t discuss the possibility that money is leftover.

“We’ll continue to do everything we can to ensure that Ukraine is getting the aid,” he said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart early Monday, discussing the front lines and Russia’s attack on the city of Dnipro with an intermediate-range ballistic missile, designed to carry a nuclear warhead.

“Secretary Austin provided Minister [Rustem] Umerov with an update on the continued surge of U.S. security assistance to Ukraine to provide the capabilities it needs to defend against Russian aggression,” the Pentagon said in a readout of their call.

Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.

编者按：本文于 2024 年 12 月 2 日星期一更新，加入了《防务新闻》和美联社的补充报道。

美国正准备向乌克兰提供额外 7.25 亿美元的军事援助，其中包括反无人机系统和高机动性火箭炮系统的弹药，这可能表明更多远程导弹将运往战场。

目前尚不清楚HIMARS导弹的弹药是否是乌克兰梦寐以求的ATACMS（陆军战术导弹系统），但乌克兰一直在争取更多远程导弹，以打击俄罗斯境内的其他目标。

美国国务院周一宣布的这一系列援助物资还包括更多乌克兰指望用来减缓俄罗斯和朝鲜地面部队在俄罗斯库尔斯克地区的推进速度的杀伤人员地雷。

乔·拜登总统承诺，将在其1月20日任期结束前，用完国会今年早些时候批准的所有对乌克兰的军事援助资金。在周一的消息公布之前，这笔资金包括约71亿美元的武器，这些武器将从五角大楼的库存中提取。

由于即将上任的特朗普总统承诺结束乌克兰冲突，外界普遍猜测新政府将对乌克兰产生何种影响。乌克兰总统泽连斯基周五的表态标志着局势发生重大转变，他表示，如果基辅控制的领土加入北约，则可能结束“战争的白热化阶段”。

截至周一上午，五角大楼已获准向乌克兰提供价值68亿美元的装备，并拨款约50亿美元用于替换已交付的装备，但这些数字并未计入最新一批物资。此外，五角大楼还通过一项旨在长期维持援助的独立项目，向乌克兰提供22亿美元的长期安全援助。

五角大楼发言人帕特·莱德少将在周一的记者会上表示：“底线是，在总统的指示下，我们将把国会拨给乌克兰的每一美元都花出去，并用于补充我们的库存。”

然而，按照目前每两到三周一项安全计划的速度，美国无法在1月20日特朗普就职前花完这笔钱。五角大楼受限于其库存规模，库存不能低于一定水平，否则会危及自身在危机中的作战能力。

当被问及该利率时，莱德不愿讨论是否有剩余资金的可能性。

他说：“我们将继续尽一切努力确保乌克兰获得援助。”

周一早些时候，美国国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀与乌克兰国防部长通了电话，讨论了前线局势以及俄罗斯使用一枚可携带核弹头的中程弹道导弹袭击第聂伯罗市的情况。

五角大楼在通话纪要中表示：“奥斯汀部长向（鲁斯捷姆·）乌梅罗夫部长汇报了美国持续加大对乌克兰的安全援助，以使其具备抵御俄罗斯侵略的能力。”

诺亚·罗伯逊是《防务新闻》的五角大楼记者。他此前曾为《基督教科学箴言报》报道国家安全新闻。他拥有弗吉尼亚州威廉斯堡威廉与玛丽学院的英语和政治学学士学位。