U.S. officers stated on Tuesday that the Biden administration was sending as much as $400 million in further navy assist to Ukraine, together with artillery, air defenses and mine-clearing tools, in an effort to assist replenish Kyiv’s forces as their counteroffensive grinds on.

Included within the package deal drawn from Pentagon stockpiles are 32 Stryker armored personnel carriers, mine-clearing tools and munitions for Patriot antimissile programs and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, or NASAMS, the officers stated.

The package deal additionally contains munitions for Stinger antiaircraft programs and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, in addition to munitions for Javelin and different anti-tank weapons.

The United States can also be sending extra ammunition for 155-millimeter and 105-millimeter artillery, Hydra-70 plane rockets, Hornet microdrones, night-vision gadgets and spare elements for broken tools.

The newest navy assist comes as Ukraine’s counteroffensive within the nation’s southeast advances extra slowly than anticipated via dense Russian minefields and different defenses. Russia has additionally not too long ago launched among the struggle’s most ferocious assaults on Odesa, a Ukrainian port metropolis, after the Kremlin pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, an settlement that allowed for the export of Ukrainian grain by sea.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine referred to as on Western allies to produce extra air protection tools and different navy assist after Russian assaults hit Odesa’s cultural websites and port infrastructure.

“We must defend Odesa,” Mr. Zelensky stated in a Twitter post after talking to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain, including: “Ukraine urgently needs to strengthen its air defense to protect its historical heritage and continue the Black Sea Grain Initiative.”

The new American help package deal brings the whole quantity of U.S. navy assist delivered or dedicated to Ukraine to $43 billion since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

“The people of Ukraine continue to bravely defend their country against Russia’s aggression while Russia continues its relentless and vicious attacks that are killing Ukrainian civilians and destroying civil infrastructure,” Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken stated in a press release.