The new arms package represents the strongest sign to date that the war in Ukraine is changing – and with it the weapons Ukraine will need if it hopes to continue to thwart the Russian army, which has been reorganized and resupplied after its initial failures in the first weeks of war. The Biden government announced that the new package included 11 Mi-17 helicopters originally destined for Afghanistan, 18 155 mm Howitzer cannons. and 300 more Switchblade drones, in addition to radar systems capable of tracking incoming fires and pinpointing their origin. This package stands out from previous security assistance in part because this dose includes more sophisticated and heavier weapons than previous shipments. A US official told CNN that this was planned, arguing that because Russia, which had failed to occupy Kyiv, had changed its strategy of concentrating forces in eastern Ukraine, the US was changing its strategy to giving Ukraine.
“The meters of what they need are very different,” said the US official. The new authorized package was announced a few days after National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chief of General Staff General Mark Milli spent more than two hours on the phone with their Ukrainian counterparts considering requests. Defense Minister Lloyd Austin also spoke with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov twice last week. Reznikov gave an update on the situation on the ground, which allowed Austin to determine which weapons Ukraine needed most.
Biden handed over the news of the aid package during a 58-minute telephone conversation with Zelensky from the Oval Office on Wednesday. There was one item Zelensky requested directly from Biden: the Mi-17 helicopters. According to a well-known source, the helicopters were not initially included in the package as of Tuesday night, because US officials were not clear on whether the Ukrainians wanted or needed them at the moment. Zelensky made it clear to the President on Wednesday that they did.

“A bit like Kansas”

The weapons provided focus on the type of fighting that is likely to take place in the Donbas region – on open ground rather than the closed-door fighting in urban and wooded areas around Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. The region also borders southwestern Russia, allowing Russian forces to avoid the kinds of maintenance, logistics and communications problems that derail their total invasion of the country almost from the beginning. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday that the package was tailored to the battle of Donbass, a topography he described as “a bit like Kansas.” “It’s a little bit flatter. It’s a little bit more open. And it’s the kind of place where we can predict that the Russians will want to use tanks and long-range artillery, artillery and rockets to achieve some of their targets before they can be deployed. “, Said Kirby. The new arms package, Kirby added, was “a great effort to give the Ukrainians every possible advantage in this coming struggle.” The Biden government has faced bipartisan pressure to do more to help Ukraine, especially in calls for more powerful weapons. But the government has resisted for weeks, wary of how Russian President Vladimir Putin would respond, with his forces already deployed. Officials warned that the Kremlin could see it as an escalation or as an indication that the United States was involved in the struggle.
The issue became more acute with the MiG-29 fighter jets requested by Ukraine. The administration refused to participate in the transfer of Soviet-era jets from a third country to Ukraine via the United States, rejecting a proposal from Poland. The United States was concerned, Kirby said on March 9, that “the transfer of warplanes at this time could be mistaken by Mr Putin and the Russians as a step in the right direction.” Much of the domestic concern concerned the proposal to fly to Ukraine from a NATO air base. Now the rhetoric of the Biden government seems to have shifted with the scale of the war. As the United States prepares to send the types of weapons it has not sent since the invasion began, the Pentagon insisted that this was part of the US commitment “from the beginning” to help Ukraine defend itself.
“How is this interpreted by the Russians – you can ask Mr Putin and the Kremlin,” Kirby said on Wednesday.

“Very fast in a different place”

For weeks, Zelensky begged world leaders for more weapons and equipment. In March, he spoke with the parliaments of 17 countries, as well as with three international organizations. He never strayed from his basic message: Ukraine needs more weapons. He called on Congress to introduce new air defense systems to help protect Ukraine’s skies. He called for 1% of NATO tanks and planes to counterattack Russian forces. And he sought more weapons from Belgium, warning that if Ukraine lost, the European Union would lose. But his calls for greater firepower went largely unanswered. For the most part, the countries sent more small arms ammunition, anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as protective and medical equipment. Now, with Russian forces preparing for a massive offensive in the Donbas region, the tide is changing. “The portfolio of what people are willing to offer has grown significantly in the last two weeks,” he said. Once Ukrainian forces were able to contain the Russian invasion for the first few days, they set out on security assistance options “very quickly in a different place.” Slovakia supplied Ukraine with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. The Czech Republic sent T-72 tanks. The United Kingdom has announced that it will send 120 armored vehicles to Ukraine. And now the United States has approved a number of new and more powerful weapons. As a sign of coordination for aid to Ukraine, the European Union announced that it would provide another $ 544 million in aid on the same day that the White House approved its own $ 800 million.

The Pentagon says it is operating as quickly as possible

The package announced Wednesday marked the first time the United States has supplied Ukraine with artillery shells. Kirby said many systems would require additional training for Ukrainians to use them, including radar shells and artillery.
Many of the weapons aimed at Ukraine are heavier, making them more difficult to transport across the country. Ukraine has amassed weapons supplied to date by the United States and other countries on its western border before transferring them to forces across the country.
Kirby said the Pentagon was aware that “time is not our friend” as Russia prepares for its next attack, but that it is working to transfer weapons to Ukraine as soon as possible.
“Even before this was announced, we were moving very, very fast all the other security assistance we provided, honestly at an unprecedented rate.” CNN’s Barbara Starr and Alex Marquardt contributed to this report.