Blinken said the world has been shocked and appalled by the atrocities committed by Russia’s forces in Bucha and across Ukraine, reports Asian Lite News
The US State Department has announced that it will send $100 million in additional anti-armour weapons to Ukraine.
“I have authorised, pursuant to a delegation from the President earlier today, the immediate drawdown of security assistance valued at up to $100 million to meet Ukraine’s urgent need for additional anti-armour systems,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
This authorisation is the sixth drawdown of arms, equipment, and supplies from the US Department of Defence inventories for Ukraine since August 2021.
Blinken said the world has been shocked and appalled by the atrocities committed by Russia’s forces in Bucha and across Ukraine.
“Ukraine’s forces bravely continue to defend their country and their freedom, and the United States, along with our Allies and partners, stand steadfast in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he added.
Blinken said the US and its allies are expediting shipments of even more of the arms and defence equipment Ukraine is using to defend itself.
“As we strengthen Ukraine’s position on the battlefield and at the negotiating table, we will also work with our Allies and partners to gather information to document reported abuses and make it available to the appropriate bodies to hold those responsible to account,” he added.
In a separate statement, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, said that the extra funding would be used “to meet an urgent Ukrainian need for additional Javelin anti-armor systems.”
Fresh sanctions
The United States has said it will announce a fresh round of sanctions against Russia later this week that will target government officials, financial institutions and state-owned enterprises.
“You can expect, as many of you have reported, that they will target Russian government officials, their family members, Russian owned financial institutions, [and] also state-owned enterprises,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
Psaki said the new US sanctions aim to cause more uncertainty and challenges to Russia’s financial system amid Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“Russia does not have unlimited resources, especially now given the crippling sanctions we have put in place and they are going to be forced to choose between draining remaining valuable dollar reserves or new revenue coming in or default,” Psaki said during a press briefing.
“[T]he biggest part of our objective here is to deplete the resources that Putin has to continue his war against Ukraine and obviously causing more uncertainty and challenges to their financial system is a part of that.”
Psaki further explained how the US will no longer allow Russia to pay down its debt using dollars stockpiled at American banks, a shift aimed at piling additional pressure on Moscow.
The goals of the move were, in part, to deplete Russia’s financial resources, the White House press secretary said.
“The goal is to force them to make a choice. So Russia does not have unlimited resources, especially now, given the crippling sanctions we’ve put in place and they are going to be forced to choose between draining remaining valuable dollar reserves, or new revenue coming in, or default,” Psaki said.
She continued, “The biggest part of our objective here is to deplete the resources that Putin has to continue his war against Ukraine, and obviously causing more certainty – uncertainty — and challenges to their financial system is a part of that but it is forcing them to choose those options and to also deplete the resources, making it more difficult for him to continue to fight the war.”
