The US Department of Defense has announced another package of military aid to Ukraine, this time totalling $375m. It is the 38th round of equipment sent to Ukraine by the US since August 2021.
The statement released by the US Department of Defense on Sunday (21 May) following President Joe Biden's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the G7 meeting in Japan details the capabilities included in the latest package.
It will include further ammunition with HIMARS rocket systems that have wrought havoc on Russian troop and equipment concentrations since they were first supplied to Ukraine in June 2022.
It will also supply Javelin anti-tank missiles and AT-4 anti-armour systems, as well as armoured bridging systems, logistics support, and thermal imagery systems.
This latest package comes after Joe Biden signaled that he would authorise the third-party transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, something that Ukraine has pressured allies over for months. He would also support an international intiative to train Ukrainian pilots on the jets, he added while at the G7 summit in Japan.
Bakhmut "likely secured" by Wagner
Meanwhile, the Institute for the Study of War has announced in its latest daily briefing of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that Wagner mercenaries have "likely secured" the administrative borders of Bakhmut after almost ten months of fighting that has left the city of once 70,000 people totally destroyed.
Wagner's troops are also depleted and it is unlikely they will fight beyond Bakhmut, the ISW adds. Indeed, despite having all but lost the city with the exception of an "insignificant" part of south-western Bakhmut, Ukrainian troops have reported advances on the flanks of the city, and have threatened Wagner troops with encirclement inside the city.
