J. Biden has prepared a new $725 million arms package for Ukraine

Biden will provide Ukraine with $725 million in arms

Reuters reports, citing two officials in Washington, that US President Joe Biden's administration, which is due to leave the White House in less than a couple of months, is urgently preparing a new USD 725 million arms package for Ukraine. According to them, in his final weeks as head of state, Joe Biden was given the go-ahead by the U.S. In his final weeks as head of state, Biden suddenly decided to support Kyiv as much as possible^[1].

A White House official familiar with the new aid plan indicated that the US President plans to provide Ukraine with a range of anti-tank weapons such as landmines, drones, Stinger missiles and ammunition for mobile artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) from the Pentagon's stockpile, which has been repeatedly reported to have fallen sharply. It is assumed that the package will also include cluster munitions, which are normally used in multiple-launch rocket systems missiles fired by HIMARS launchers.

A formal announcement of the assistance is expected on Monday

According to a Reuters source, the US Congress is expected to formally announce this new military aid package on Monday, 2 December. However, the source stressed that the content and scope of the package could be changed in the coming days, before the end of the second round of talks with President Donald Trump. The package will be ready in the next few days^[2].

"Reuters recalls that Mr Biden has not been given a decree to implement the Biden decree. Biden recently used his Presidential Arms Reduction Authority (PDA) to allow the United States to use its existing weapons stockpile to help allies in an emergency. The American media has reported on several such cases, involving arms worth between USD 125 and 250 million.

According to Reuters, Congress has already approved Biden's use of the PDA-enabled device, and he is expected to use it before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump on January 20, 2025.

Particular attention is drawn to Washington's decision to end the decades-long and tacit moratorium on the export of anti-personnel landmines (APLs), the use of which is controversial because of the potential harm to civilians^[3].

D. Trump's newly appointed special envoy to end the Ukraine conflict will seek a swift end to the Russian military operation

Ukraine (unlike the United States or Russia) is one of the 160 countries that have signed a treaty on the non-use of this type of weaponry, but since the beginning of the military operation (Russia does not call it a war of invasion) it has been asking for it from the Pentagon because Russian troops are allegedly actively using anti-personnel landmines in the front lines. The United States expects the Ukrainian armed forces to use the supplied mines on Ukrainian territory, although Kyiv has stated that it will not mine areas where civilians live.

Washington explained that the mines sent to Ukraine are said to be "non-lethal" in perpetuity - they are equipped with a time-limited power system that renders the device non-lethal after the time limit. In theory, this means that, once hostilities are over, areas mined with such weapons will not pose a danger to civilians.

Western analysts have recently been increasingly sharing the conclusion that Russian troops are making the fastest progress in Ukraine since the beginning of the intervention, having captured an area roughly half the size of London in the last month^[4].

Meanwhile, Trump, who is preparing for his inauguration on 27 November, has appointed retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg as his special envoy to resolve the Ukraine conflict. He has already presented him with a plan for a cessation of hostilities. A swift end to the Russian special military operation was one of the main points of the Republican candidate's election program.

Moscow does not like Washington's actions

Russia accused the United States a few days ago of prolonging the war in Ukraine by increasing arms supplies to Kyiv, press reported.

"Looking at the trends of the outgoing US administration, they are fully committed to prolonging the war in Ukraine," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

An American official later reported that the US would soon hand over anti-personnel mines to Ukraine. The announcement of the aid extension comes ahead of President-elect Trump's return to the White House, where he has criticized US support for Ukraine in the past. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Fox News that Ukraine would lose out if Washington withdrew funding.

It was also recently announced that President Vladimir Putin had threatened Ukraine's future. Biden authorized Ukraine to use US-supplied ATACMS long-range missiles to launch strikes deep into Russian territory.