Ukraine War Watch Thread

[weatheriscool]

Biden says US to begin sending military equipment to Ukraine within 'hours'

Source: ABC News

April 24, 2024, 12:15 PM

The U.S. will begin sending military equipment to Ukraine within "a few hours" after the passage of a long-stalled foreign aid package, President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday.

In remarks from the White House, Biden said he signed the $95 billion package. He said it will make both America and the world "safer."

"It was a difficult path [to my desk] and it should have been easier, and it should have gotten there sooner," Biden said of the legislation, which was first requested by the administration last fall and seemed all but dead due to GOP-led opposition in the House before the sudden reversal of Speaker Mike Johnson.

"But in the end, we did what America always does: we rose to the moment, came together and we got it done," the president continued. "Now we need to move fast, and we are."

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-u ... =109575096

[weatheriscool]

Ukraine Strikes Back: U.S. secretly sent Ukraine long-range ATACMS missiles

Ukraine for the first time has begun using long-range ballistic missiles provided secretly by the United States, bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area overnight, American officials said Wednesday.

Long sought by Ukrainian leaders, the new missiles give Ukraine nearly double the striking distance — up to 300 kilometers (190 miles) — that it had with the mid-range version of the weapon that it received from the U.S. last October.

"We’ve already sent some, we will send more now that we have additional authority and money,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. The additional ATACMS were included in a new military aid package signed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

Biden approved delivery of the long-range Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, in February, and then in March the U.S. included a “significant” number of them in a $300 million aid package announced, officials said.

U.S. officials would not provide the exact number of missiles given last month or in the latest aid package, which totals about $1 billion.

[link:https://www.rawstory.com/u-s-secretly-s ... -missiles/|

[weatheriscool]

US announces new Patriot missiles for Ukraine as part of new $6 billion aid package


Updated 1:17 PM EDT, April 26, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will provide Ukraine additional Patriot missiles for its air defense systems as part of a massive $6 billion additional aid package, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Friday.

The missiles will be used to replenish previously supplied Patriot air defense systems and are part of a package that also includes more munitions for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, or NASAMS, and additional gear to integrate Western air defense launchers, missiles and radars into Ukraine’s existing weaponry, much of which still dates back to the Soviet era.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the need for Patriots early Friday at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a coalition of about 50 countries gathering virtually in a Pentagon-led meeting. The meeting fell on the second anniversary of the group, which Austin said has “moved heaven and earth” since April 2022 to source millions of rounds of ammunition, rocket systems, armored vehicles and even jets to help Ukraine rebuff Russia’s invasion.

Zelenskyy said at least seven Patriot systems are needed to protect Ukrainian cities. “We urgently need Patriot systems and missiles for them,” Zelenskyy said. “This is what can and should save lives right now.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-fund ... 2422e2908b

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

‘March or April’: How Zelenskyy gave Johnson a deadline for military aid

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... r-AA1nJ6h2

[wjfox]

Russia using chemical choking agents in Ukraine, US says

2 hours ago

The US has accused Russia of deploying chemical weapons as a "method of warfare" in Ukraine, in violation of international laws banning their use.

State department officials said Russia used the choking agent chloropicrin to win "battlefield gains" over Ukraine.

The allegations, which US officials said were not an "isolated" incident, would contravene the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which Russia signed.

The Kremlin rejected the accusations, calling them "baseless".

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow that Russia stood by its obligations under the CWC, which prohibits states from developing or acquiring new weapons. Some 193 states have ratified the convention.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-68941220



Reuters

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

Just send them there as border guards and air defense already. Don't even have to engage in combat

[wjfox]

Ukraine wiped out 100 Russian troops at once in a strike showcasing the range and power of its new US ATACMS

May 3, 2024, 12:27 PM BST

A Ukrainian ATACMS long-range missile strike killed more than 100 Russian soldiers in an occupied region 50 miles from the front line, according to OSINT and military analysts.

Ukrainian forces targeted a Russian military training area some 50 miles behind the front line in the occupied Luhansk Oblast in eastern Ukraine, per an assessment by The Institute for the Study of War.

According to two aerial geolocated videos posted on Wednesday by X user Osinttechnical, an account affiliated with the Centre for Naval Analyses, Ukraine appeared to strike the training area with three US-supplied M39 ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles.

Osinttechnical said at least one of the missiles struck a gathering of more than 100 Russian soldiers, with hundreds of M74 APAM bomblets falling on them.

Open-source geolocation project GeoConfirmed said four ATACMS were used in the attack, with the location being the village of Rohove in eastern Ukraine. One of its volunteers shared footage on X, saying that the four strikes happened within the space of a minute.

https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine ... ant-2024-5