Air Defense Network and Shell Support... Official Announcement Within Days
Major foreign media reported on the 20th (local time) that the US Biden administration, one month before its retirement, is scheduled to officially announce within days an additional $1.2 billion (1.7 trillion won) weapons support plan for Ukraine.
Two Ukrainian soldiers standing face to face inside a trench on the Kupiansk front in Kharkiv Oblast on January 23 (local time). Photo by AFP Yonhap News
The plan is known to include air defense systems and shells to intercept enemy missiles and drones.
This is the Biden administration's final support under the US Department of Defense's Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI).
There is also a possibility that this will be the end of US weapons support to Ukraine.
Donald Trump, the US president-elect who will take office on January 20 next year, has expressed skepticism about the US continuing support for Ukraine and argues that European allies should bear more financial burdens.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the US has promised or already provided $175 billion (253.1 trillion won) in support to Ukraine, of which $61.4 billion (88.8 trillion won) was security assistance.
Half of this security assistance was ordered as new products through USAI, and the other half was weapons that the US military already possessed and sent under presidential authority.
The remaining balance available to send US military-held weapons to Ukraine under presidential authority is $5.6 billion (8.1 trillion won).
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
