US Announces $250 Million Arms Package for Ukraine

The package is being funded by money made available by a Pentagon 'accounting error'

The Biden administration on Tuesday announced a new $250 million arms package for Ukraine that includes HIMARS ammunition, AIM-9 missiles, artillery rounds, and various types of other military equipment.

The $250 million package is being paid for using funds made available by an “accounting error.” The Pentagon claimed that it overvalued arms it had been sending to Ukraine, freeing up an additional $6.2 billion to spend on fueling the proxy war against Russia. The first arms package using these funds was announced on August 14.

The arms package announced on Tuesday uses the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which allows the US to arm Ukraine with weapons directly from Pentagon stockpiles.

According to the Pentagon, the package includes:

  • AIM-9M missiles for air defense
  • Additional ammunition for HIMARS
  • 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds
  • Mine clearing equipment
  • Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles
  • Javelin and other anti-armor systems and rockets
  • Hydra-70 Rockets
  • Over 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition
  • Armored medical treatment vehicles and High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) ambulances
  • Demolitions munitions for obstacle clearing
  • Spare parts, maintenance, and other field equipment

The Pentagon also released a fact sheet that said the US has pledged over $43 billion in military equipment to Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24, 2022.

Congress has authorized a total of $113 billion in spending on the war, which also includes economic aid, money for the Pentagon to replenish stockpiles of weapons that have been sent to Ukraine, and funding for US troops deployments in Eastern Europe. The White House recently asked Congress to authorize another $24 billion in spending on the proxy war.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.