Ukrainian Ministry of Defence announced that the U.S. Congress approved today a $250 million security assistance package to Ukraine for FY2020 under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) program.
Follow New Defence Order. Strategy on Google News.
The statement, published by the press service of the ministry today, said that the Congress approved the assistance package on 11 June, after it was recommended by the United States Department of Defence.
"This reaffirms the long-standing defence relationship between the United States and Ukraine – a critical partner on the front line of strategic competition with Russia. The United States remains steadfast in its support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders," came in the statement of the US Department of Defence on this matter.
Ukraine's Ministry of Defence said in its release that the package included "various means of surveillance, counter-artillery fire, vehicles, medical equipment, cyber security systems and countering Russian propaganda."
$125 million of the USAI fund is conditional on Ukraine’s progress on defense reforms, said the release of US the Department of Defence.
Furthermore, the assistance package would support the Ukrainian Navy and thus "contribute to the establishment of stability and security in the Azov and Black Sea regions."
Last month, Ukrain's Ambassador to the United States, Volodymyr Yelchenko, said that the end of 2019 witnessed reaching some mutual understanding between the Pentagon and the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence that there was a need to strengthen naval security, in the Azov Sea and Black Sea. Most of the funds allocated by the US to aid Ukraine will finance Ukraine's Naval Forces.
