US sends more weapons to Ukraine via maritime routes

Ships are able to transport large quantities of cargo, despite being slower than aircraft, which could allow Kyiv to build up a bigger weapons arsenal, the newspaper said on Saturday (local time).

The Pentagon started sending weapons to Ukraine by sea "a few weeks" after Russia started its special military operation at the end of February, but maritime shipping has been broadened significantly this spring, US defense officials told The Washington Post .

"Once we started to provide them howitzers, we knew that we were going to need more ammunition," said Army Col. Steven Putthoff, the deputy director of operations at US Transportation Command.

"So, we could plan ahead a little bit more, and then we could start to use more sealift to provide that support and to get it there sometimes even ahead of the request," he said, as quoted by The Washington Post.

The US Defence Department had earlier announced that it would provide a new USD 775 million in additional military assistance to Ukraine, including HIMARS missiles, artillery, and mine-clearing systems.

Earlier this week, the United States announced a new USD 2.98 billion package of military aid for Ukraine, which includes six additional National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which finances the US defense industry to boost production of certain weapons.

Most of the previous security packages for Ukraine were presidential drawdown packages that sent weapons and equipment from the US national defense stockpile. However, the United States does not have NASAMS in stock that are immediately available for Ukraine.

Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said deliveries of military equipment in the USD 2.98 billion package will begin in the next several months and continue into the coming years.

Since 1993, the US has invested over USD 4.2 billion for the safe clearance of landmines and explosive weapons of war (ERW) as well as the securing and safe disposal of excess small arms and light weapons (SA/LW) and munitions in more than 100 countries and territories.

"The US is the world's single largest financial supporter of conventional weapons destruction," the statement reads.

In total, the United States has now committed approximately USD 9.8 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration. Since 2014, the United States has committed more than USD 11.8 billion in security assistance to Ukraine.