The Biden administration announced a $325 million security assistance package for Ukraine on Wednesday, marking the 36th drawdown of equipment for Ukraine from the Defense Department since August 2021. The United States has granted Ukraine more than $35 billion in military assistance since Russia’s invasion in February last year.
The package includes munitions and equipment from Defense Department inventories, including ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS launchers), artillery rounds, AT4 antiarmor weapon systems, antitank mines and missiles, according to a State Department spokesperson.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Analysis from our correspondents
Brazil’s Lula reaches out to China and Russia, stoking U.S. unease: Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has diverged from the West over the war in Ukraine, hewing closer to Beijing’s and Moscow’s rhetoric, Ishaan Tharoor writes.
Lula, in a visit to China last week, accused the United States and the European Union of “encouraging war” and urged them to “start talking about peace.” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington that “in this case, Brazil is parroting Russian and Chinese propaganda without at all looking at the facts.”
The Brazilian leader’s comments were welcomed by Moscow. “As for the process in Ukraine, we are grateful to our Brazilian friends for their excellent understanding of this situation’s genesis,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was in Brasília this week as part of a four-nation tour of Latin America.
Karen DeYoung and Matt Viser contributed to this report. » …
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