US Sends $260 Million In Weapons To Kyiv Before Trump Takes Office

The Pentagon will send $275 million (€260 million) worth of new weapons to Kyiv before Donald Trump takes office as US president on January 20, 2025, US officials said today.

The Biden administration, the sources said, is rushing to do as much as it can to help Kyiv fight Russia in the two months remaining to the current US resident, with the aid package yet to be approved.

The latest tranche of arms aid comes as concerns grow about an escalation in the conflict, with both sides pressing for any leverage they can exploit if Trump demands a quick end to the war, as the president-elect has promised to do.

On Monday, Biden authorized Ukraine to fire long-range missiles at Russia, with Russian President Vladimir Putin upping the ante and issuing a statement declaring the possibility of the Russian military using nuclear weapons.

U.S. officials said Russia’s shift in nuclear doctrine was expected.

However, Moscow warned today that Ukraine’s new deployment of the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, inside Russia could trigger a strong response.

An anonymous U.S. source, quoted by the Associated Press (AP), said the United States sees no indication that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the aid package has not yet been made public.

Asked today whether a Ukrainian strike with U.S. long-range missiles could potentially trigger the use of nuclear weapons, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in the affirmative.

Peskov pointed to the doctrine’s provision that keeps the door open after a conventional attack poses critical threats to the “sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Russia and its ally Belarus.

A U.S. official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ukraine fired eight ATACM missiles at Russia on Tuesday and that only two were intercepted, and that damage to an ammunition depot in Karachev, in the Bryansk region, was underway.

The weapons in the new aid package to Ukraine include a mix of air defense weapons, including Highly Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as 155-millimeter (mm) and 105-mm artillery rounds, Javelin armor-piercing rounds and other equipment, as well as spare parts, the same U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The weapons will be supplied under so-called “presidential withdrawal authority,” which allows the Pentagon to quickly deploy weapons to Ukraine’s front lines before Trump takes power.