WASHINGTON — The White House has approved $200 million in additional arms and equipment shipments to Ukraine, administration officials said Saturday, responding to urgent requests from President Volodymyr Zelensky for more help to thwart a Russian invasion.
The latest weapons package, which officials say includes Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, follows a $350 million weapons package that the Biden administration approved last month. Overall, officials say the administration sent $1.2 billion worth of weapons to Ukraine last year.
The weapons come from existing US military stockpiles in Europe and are transported to neighboring countries such as Poland and Romania, from where they are transported by land to western Ukraine. In less than a week at the start of the Russian offensive, the US and NATO handed over 17,000 anti-tank weapons, including Javelins, into the hands of Ukrainian commanders.
So far, Russia has not attacked those shipments because its forces have been too busy fighting in other parts of Ukraine, Pentagon officials said. But on Saturday, according to the Interfax news agency, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned that Moscow would begin shelling such supplies, raising fears of an escalation in the conflict.
The West has rejected Mr. Zelenskiy’s repeated requests to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine and provide Ukraine with Polish MiG-29 fighter jets, fearful of drawing the United States and NATO into direct confrontation with Russia, the nuclear power.
Instead, the Biden administration and 14 other allies have sent anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons that analysts say have proven effective in attacking Russian military power on the ground and in the air. Pentagon officials said they were also working closely with Eastern European countries to provide Ukraine with additional surface-to-air missile defense capabilities, adding that such deliveries could be announced in the next few days.