US to sell Ukraine $165 million worth of ‘non-standard ammunition’

The US State Department approved a $165 million foreign military sale to Ukraine of “non-standard ammunition,” according to a State Department press statement. The announcement stated that the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of the sale on April 24.

The decision was communicated to Ukrainian officials during Secretary of State Antony Blinken‘s and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin‘s weekend visit to Kyiv.

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According to a senior Defense Department official, “It’s the kind of ammunition that the Ukrainians still use because they had so many of their systems are ex-soviet.”

“The proposed sale will improve Ukraine’s capability to meet current and future threats by maintaining the operational readiness of its forces,” according to a news statement from the State Department.

The reported sale is only one of various ways the US is assisting Ukraine militarily. On Thursday, US President Joe Biden ordered an additional $800 million in military assistance to Ukraine through presidential drawdown money.

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Ukraine has requested “various rounds of non-standard ammunition,” including but not limited to “152mm rounds for 2A36 Giatsint; 152mm rounds for D-20 cannons; VOG-17 for automatic grenade launcher AGS-17; 120mm mortar rounds (non-NATO); 122mm rounds for 2Sl Gvozdika; BM-21 GRAD Rockets; 300mm rounds/rockets for MLRS “Smerch;” stated the release.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, where they pledged increased military aid and the gradual return of American diplomats to the war-torn country.

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Blinken and Austin told Zelensky and his advisers on Sunday, during the highest-level US visit to the capital since Russia’s invasion in late February, that Washington would offer more than $300 million in military finance aside from the approved $165 million ammunition sale.