US administration preparing new aid package for Ukraine

The US administration is preparing a new aid package for Ukraine that is expected to be worth around $1 billion.

In briefings to Congress in recent weeks, administration officials have indicated that the US will likely send Ukraine long-range ATACMS, or Army Tactical Missile Systems, for the first time as part of the new aid package, according to CNN.

Last fall the US first sent Ukraine the midrange variant of the ATACMS missile system, which can reach about 100 miles, while the longer-range version can reach as far as 190 miles.

Ukrainian officials have been asking the US both in private and in public for the long-range missile to target deeper behind Russian lines. American officials have resisted, citing both supplies and further provoking Moscow as excuses.

But US officials have been describing the situation on the Ukrainian battlefield in increasingly dire terms over the last several months, as US aid stalled amid gridlock in Congress over the administration’s $60 billion supplemental funding request.

CIA Director Bill Burns testified earlier this month that Ukraine could lose the war by the end of this year without US support, and the top US general for Europe, EUCOM commander Gen. Chris Cavoli, told Congress that the Russians have such an advantage in artillery ammunition that they will soon be outfiring the Ukrainians 10-to-1. Broadly, Russia has maintained a “significant quantitative advantage” over Ukraine in terms of munitions, manpower and equipment, a NATO official said earlier this month.