Reuters: US may send long-range missiles to Ukraine By ANP/upday February 1, 2023, 7:16 AM
The United States is preparing new military aid for Ukraine that is expected to include long-range missiles for the first time, Reuters news agency reports based on talks with two senior US government officials. The package, worth more than 2 billion dollars (1.84 billion euros), will also include ammunition and other weapons.
The military aid is expected to be announced later this week, the officials said. It also supposedly contains "support material" for Patriot air defense systems, precision-guided munitions and Javelin anti-tank weapons.
A significant portion of the package, more than $1.7 billion (1.56 billion euros), would come from a fund known as the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). This allows the government to order the weapons from the arms industry instead of obtaining them from existing US arms stockpiles.
The money from the USAI would be used to purchase a new weapon, the Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb (GLSDB), with a range of 150 kilometers. The US has rejected requests from, among others, arms manufacturer Boeing to send the so-called ATACMS missile, with a range of 297 kilometers, to Ukraine.
Other assistance would include mine-resistant vehicles (MRAPs), guided multiple missile systems (GMLRS) and munitions.
