A third shipment of US military aid arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday as tensions mount over Russia’s troop buildup and Western nations and NATO ramp up their military presence in Eastern Europe.
Images showed workers unloading crates of equipment and munitions at the Boryspil airport outside Kiev, with some containers clearly stenciled with the words “50 cal.”
Much of the ammunition will be sent to Ukraine’s “front-line defenders.”
The delivery is part of a $200 million security support package approved by President Biden in late December.
“The United States and its allies and partners are standing together to expedite security assistance to Ukraine,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted last Friday ahead of the first shipment of “lethal aid.”
“We are utilizing all available security cooperation tools to help Ukraine bolster its defenses in the face of Russian aggression,” he added.
The first batch of 90 tons of military equipment began arriving in Ukraine on Saturday after talks between Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over the Kremlin’s demands for security guarantees from the West failed to reach a breakthrough.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has stationed more than 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s eastern border, has insisted that the US and its European allies not allow Ukraine and other former Soviet bloc states to become NATO members.
The massive military buildup and threats of an imminent invasion has prompted the Pentagon to put up to 8,500 troops on “heightened alert” and NATO to bolster its “deterrence” forces in Eastern Europe with additional ships and fighter jets.