On Friday, Ukraine received its first shipment of 2 lakh pounds of lethal assistance recently directed by US President Biden amid soaring fears of a Russian invasion. The shipment also included ammunition for the front line defenders of Ukraine and US commitment to bolster the defence.
The American Embassy in Kyiv in its tweet said that ‘the shipment – and $2.7 billion USD since 2014 – demonstrates US commitment to helping Ukraine bolster its defences in the face of growing ‘Russian aggression’.
This comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Ukraine this week and approved military assistance of $200 million as part of American efforts to help Ukraine protect itself. Committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the official had said that the US would continue to provide Ukraine with the support it needs.
On January 19, Russia deployed more than 1,27,000 servicemen at the border with Ukraine with intentions to expand aggression towards Ukraine. The assessment by Ukraine had defined the situation in the region as ‘difficult’ and had said that Russia was trying to split and weaken the European Union and NATO.
The US also in its assessment report had mentioned that Russia could launch an attack on Ukraine at any point in time now. As reported earlier, the Russian troops have made their permanent camps in the Central and Eastern parts of the country and support around 35,000 rebels in eastern Ukraine.
According to the reports, Blinken yesterday met its Russian counterpart and tested Russia’s willingness to resolve the crisis diplomatically. Russia had has denied withdrawing its troops from the border and said that it has a right to deploy its forces wherever it likes on its own territory.
Reports mention Ukraine’s fear of being attacked with medium-range missile weapons named Iskander as 36 of them have made their base already by the border. Ukraine’s assessment comes as it attempts to get the whole world united against Putin seeking to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In 2014, NATO unanimously decided to suspend all practical co-operation with the Russian Federation, in response to the Ukraine crisis, but the NATO-Russia Council still remains intact.