MOSCOW, April 23. /TASS/. Real weapons or equipment for the new US aid package for Kiev are not available yet, Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington Oksana Markarova said in an interview with the European Pravda media outlet.

She explained that $4 billion worth of weapons that was to be provided under the previous decisions still remained undersupplied, as the Pentagon lacked legal opportunities for providing its own armed forces with substitutes.

"Once the law is passed, they will be able to do so. But does that mean that $23 billion worth of equipment is available already and will be delivered? Unfortunately, no. We are looking for it as fast as possible. The United States is looking for it and, not only at home. For this purpose, the Ramstein group meets every month," Markarova said. She did not rule out that the first batch might arrive in Ukraine as early as April.

Earlier, CNN, citing a source, claimed that most of the weapons from the new US aid package to Ukraine were in Germany and Poland. According to the broadcaster, this will make it possible to send weapons to Ukraine within tight deadlines. Shells will be among the first items to arrive in the zone of combat operations.

On April 20, the US House of Representatives passed a bill on the allocation of additional aid to Ukraine, which implies support for Kiev in an amount of about $61 billion including the transfer of ATACMS tactical missiles to the Ukrainian military. According to the bill, about $23 billion of this amount should be used to replenish the US arsenals, $11.3 billion is to be allocated for the ongoing US military operations in the region, and $13.8 billion for the purchase of "advanced weapons systems, defense products and defense services."

The Senate will start considering the initiative on April 23. US President Joe Biden promised in a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky that Washington would soon allocate a new package of military aid to Kiev. The Pentagon said, though, that it had no exact dates for the delivery of weapons to Ukraine.