US announces Ukraine arms package amid concerns of ammunition shortages

The Biden administration on Wednesday announced $325 million in additional military assistance for Ukraine and that includes restocking what are reportedly dangerously low stockpiles of heavy artillery and munitions.

The weapons package comes directly from Department of Defense stocks, and includes more heavy artillery for U.S.-provided HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) that have allowed Ukrainian forces to attack Russian positions at a distance of about 50 miles.

Other weapons being sent to Ukraine include anti-tank TOW missiles; shoulder-mounted anti-tank missiles (AT4); anti-tank mines; 155 mm and 105 mm heavy artillery rounds; demolition munitions for obstacle clearing; undefined precision aerial munitions; and equipment for port and harbor security, maintenance and repair and spare parts and other field equipment.

The U.S. is also providing over nine million rounds of small arms ammunition, amid reports of Ukrainian forces on the frontline complaining of shortages in everything from heavy artillery to bullets. 

The U.S.-provided weapons package comes ahead of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin attending on Friday at Ramstein Air Base in Germany a meeting of 54 nations known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which coordinates weapons supplies and assistance for Kyiv. 

The security package marks the 36th drawdown of assistance from Pentagon stockpiles, and follows a $2.6 billion package announced on April 4. 

Ukrainian forces are preparing to launch a counteroffensive against Russia that is viewed as critical to pushing out Russian forces from its occupation of Ukrainian territory, concentrated in the eastern part of the country, the south-east and the Crimean Peninsula. 

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov reportedly wrote in a letter to his allied counterparts that Kyiv needs 250,000 artillery shells a month to shift the power dynamic on the battlefield. 

The weapons package also comes amid an intelligence crisis for the Pentagon, where leaked documents detailed U.S. assessments that Ukraine was running dangerously low on air defense missiles, and that the fighting is likely to stretch beyond 2023 in a grinding war of attrition.