The Ukrainian Defense Minister said the weapons will help “strengthen the defense capabilities” of the country, at a time when the Donbass region fears an offensive from Kiev.
The Government of Ukraine has received this Sunday a shipment of more than 80 tons of weapons from the United States, confirmed the country’s Defense Minister, Oleksii Reznikov. The weapons “to strengthen the defense capabilities of Ukraine” arrived in Kiev aboard a US Air Force plane.
“And this is not the end,” assured Reznikov, sharing the first images of the delivery on his Twitter account.
The second bird in Kyiv! More than 80 tons of weapons to strengthen Ukraine’s defense capabilities from our friends in the USA! And this is not the end π πΊπ¦π€πΊπΈ
P.S. the cargo arrived under dependable protection πΆ@WhiteHouse @congressdotgov @USEmbassyKyiv @UKRintheUSA pic.twitter.com/ReNaj9tRdsβ Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) January 23, 2022
On Saturday, Ukraine received the first of several batches of US-provided military assistance, which included around 90 tons of weapons.
The supplies will continue in the framework of the security package approved by Joe Biden, whose Administration also notified the US Congress of its intention to deliver Mi-17 helicopters to Kiev. Last year alone, Washington allocated $650 million in military aid to Ukraine, a total of $2.7 billion since 2014.
Meanwhile, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, denounced a day ago that some 120,000 soldiers sent by Kiev were concentrated near the line of contact in the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine .
While in Donbass the leaders, who refuse to hand over their territories to the central government after the events of 2014, denounce the increase in firing by the Ukrainian Army on the contact line, Russia accuses the West of ignoring the acts of military aggression from Kiev towards the region and the sabotage of the Minsk agreements.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday described the actions of the Ukrainian government in the conflict zone as ” state terrorism of the Kiev regime .”
The Russian Government criticizes Kiev for waging ” the war against its own citizens , those of whom they talk so much and of whom they think only when signing the military budgets”, and regrets the support of the NATO countries for the “crusade” of the Ukrainian Government against the residents of Donbass.