US provides $250 million worth of military assistance to Ukraine

The US has announced an additional package of military assistance to Ukraine worth $250 million.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken said in a statement on Tuesday that the new package includes AIM-9M missiles for air defence, munitions for high mobility artillery rocket systems, 155 mm and 105 mm artillery ammunition, and over 3 million rounds of small arms ammunition, Xinhua news agency reported.

The latest assistance is being executed under a previous directive from US president Joe Biden using the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA). Weapons and equipment being provided through this approach are drawn directly from the department of defense's (DoD) inventories for Ukraine.

This is the Biden administration's 45th PDA-related military aid to Ukraine since August 2021, according to a DoD list of the latest weapons heading to Ukraine.

The US has committed more than $43.7 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since the Biden administration took office, including more than $43 billion since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war in February 2022, according to the DoD.