The drone, often called the Phoenix Ghost, would require “minimal coaching,” the official mentioned. The official likened it to the Switchblade drones that the US beforehand despatched to Ukraine as a result of they’re “one-way” weapons, suggesting that the brand new drone could also be a loitering weapon that flies to a goal and detonates an explosive warhead, though the official didn’t provide readability on that particular level.
With the brand new bundle, Biden acknowledged he had “virtually exhausted the drawdown authority” licensed by Congress for Ukraine in a bipartisan spending invoice final month.
Biden mentioned he would ship a supplemental finances request to lawmakers subsequent week “to maintain weapons and ammunition flowing with out interruption to the courageous Ukrainian fighters and to proceed to ship financial help to the Ukrainian individuals.”
Requested how large that finances request can be, Biden mentioned he had directed the Pentagon to advocate its measurement.
Biden additionally introduced an extra $500 million in direct financial help to the Ukrainian authorities, bringing the whole U.S. financial help for Ukraine to $1 billion over the past two months.
Biden previewed {that a} new bundle of safety help was forthcoming on Tuesday, when he instructed reporters that he would authorize the supply of extra artillery to Ukraine.
The actions introduced on Thursday are the most recent taken by the Biden administration because the begin of the Russian assault in Ukraine’s jap Donbas area this week.
On Wednesday, the Treasury Division leveled new sanctions towards a Russian industrial financial institution, a Russian oligarch and his community, and Russia’s virtual-currency mining business.
The administration has already rolled out a number of rounds of help to Ukraine, as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the nation has dragged on for 57 days, and Ukrainian forces have remained largely profitable in repelling the Russian invaders.
Following Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s impassioned tackle to Congress final month, the administration introduced $800 million in safety help to Ukraine. When Biden traveled to Europe the subsequent week, he introduced $1 billion in humanitarian help.
Biden additionally instructed Zelenskyy in a name final month that the US would offer Ukraine with an extra $500 million in budgetary support, and the White Home’s finances plan consists of $682 million to assist Ukraine battle Russia.
In different actions on Thursday, Biden introduced a brand new humanitarian parole program to assist streamline the processing of Ukrainian refugees in the US. He additionally introduced a ban on Russian-affiliated ships from U.S. ports, mirroring an analogous moratorium in Europe.
Lee Hudson contributed to this report.
