Zelenskyy thanks Biden for fresh military aid to Ukraine
Lviv, Jul 23 (EFE).- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday thanked his United States counterpart Joe Biden for the fresh military aid for Ukraine worth $270 million announced by the latter a day earlier, saying this would “speed up the liberation” of his country.
In a tweet posted early on Saturday, the Ukrainian president thanked the US for “the new defense aid package for Ukraine.”
These “critically important, powerful arms will save our soldiers’ lives, speed up the liberation of our land from the Russian aggressor. I appreciate the strategic friendship between our nations. Together to victory!” he said.
Washington had on Friday announced an additional military aid package for the embattled European country worth $270 million, including weapons with better precision.
US National Security Council’s communications coordinator John Kirby said in a telephonic press conference that the new package includes four high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) and the munition for these long-range projectiles.
The supplies also include anti-armor systems, 36,000 artillery rounds and 580 Phoenix Ghost tactical drones.
Washington had already supplied 12 HIMARS to Kyiv, taking the total number of these systems with Ukraine to 16 now.
With the latest package, the total military aid offered by the US to Ukraine has reached $8.2 billion since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24.
Earlier, Zelenskyy had hailed the balance of power slowly changing in Ukraine’s favor with the western allies supplying increasingly powerful and precise weapons, such as the HIMARS launchers.
The Ukrainian president had said that HIMARS had become a common word for the country, along with Javelin and NLAW, just like indigenously developed missiles Stugna and Neptune. EFE
lab-int/ia
