WASHINGTON, August 1. /TASS/. US President Joe Biden on Monday signed a memorandum authorizing another delivery of US military assistance to Ukraine, worth $550 million.
"I hereby delegate to the Secretary of State the authority <…> to direct the drawdown of up to $550 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Ukraine," reads a memorandum, released by the White House press service.
In turn, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement the new package would include "more ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 155mm artillery systems."
This drawdown will bring total US military assistance to Ukraine to approximately $8.7 billion since the beginning of the Joe Biden administration.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other Russian officials have repeatedly warned about the possibility of Western-supplied weapons spreading from Ukraine to other regions. Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said Western attempts to militarize Ukraine are posing a direct threat to European and global security.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a special military operation following a request for help from the leaders of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow's plans did not include an occupation of Ukrainian territories, its goals being the demilitarization and denazification of the country. In response, the West began to gradually introduce sweeping sanctions against Moscow and to supply weapons and military equipment to Kiev estimated at billions of dollars.