五角大楼周二宣布了一项12亿美元军事援助的新承诺乌克兰。
该方案包括防空系统，以帮助乌克兰军队抵御俄罗斯几乎持续不断的攻击。
根据五角大楼的说法，援助还包括帮助“将西方防空发射器、导弹和雷达与乌克兰的防空系统整合在一起”的设备。
五角大楼新闻秘书帕特·赖德准将在周二的新闻发布会上说，“我们将继续加强防空能力和弹药，以帮助乌克兰控制其主权天空，并帮助乌克兰保护其公民免受俄罗斯巡航导弹和伊朗无人机的攻击。”
与此同时，在与记者的简报会上，当被问及乌克兰军队使用美国制造的爱国者系统挫败了俄罗斯的金扎尔导弹时，赖德证实。
“我们可以确认，乌克兰人用爱国者导弹防御系统击落了这枚俄罗斯导弹，”赖德说。
美国新的12亿美元军事援助将来自乌克兰安全援助倡议(USAI)，美国利用该倡议代表乌克兰从国防工业或伙伴国家购买武器和设备。
由于这一过程涉及国防合同，以及在尚未上架的情况下，制造所需产品的需求，因此可能需要数月或数年时间才能抵达乌克兰。
正因为如此，USAI代表着对乌克兰的长期支持。为了获得更直接的支持，美国使用了另一种手段，名为“总统提款权”(president drawing Authority)，从美国现有库存中提取设备，运往乌克兰。
赖德说:“美国将继续与我们的盟友和伙伴合作，为乌克兰提供满足其即时战场需求和长期安全援助要求的能力。”
新的USAI基金还将用于火炮发射、商业卫星图像服务和反无人机武器弹药。
这项12亿美元的新计划将使2023财年迄今为止USAI承诺向乌克兰提供的资金总额达到约50亿美元。自2022年2月俄罗斯入侵开始以来，美国的安全援助总额将达到近370亿美元。
周二，在美国国务院举行的新闻发布会上，当被问及对英国正准备向乌克兰发送远程导弹(基辅长期以来一直觊觎的武器)以及拜登政府拒绝提供这些武器的报道有何评论时，英国外交大臣詹姆斯·克里弗利持保留态度。
他说:“我相信你明白，公开讨论任何与行动细节有关的事情，包括我们支持的性质、时机和规模，都会适得其反。”。
但很聪明地坚定捍卫了美国提供的支持及其到达乌克兰的速度。
“它是盟国最大的捐助者。所以我不想暗示我们之间存在竞争或其他什么，”他说。“我们从一开始就密切合作，”他说。
“我们军队的性质是不同的，”他继续说道。“我们的政治制度的性质是不同的。由于我们政治体系的性质，有些事情英国能够做得更快。美国的体制允许他们在一些事情上有所不同，做得更好。这并不是说总是试图复制我们的盟友所做的事情。”
New $1.2 billion US military aid package to Ukraine: What's in it?
The Pentagon on Tuesday announced a new commitment of $1.2 billion in military aid forUkraine.
The package includes air-defense systems to help Ukrainian forces defend against a near-constant barrage of Russian strikes.
The aid also includes equipment to help "integrate Western air defense launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukraine's air defense systems," according to the Pentagon.
"We're going to continue to rush air-defense capabilities and munitions to help Ukraine control its sovereign skies and to help Ukraine defend its citizens from Russian cruise missiles and Iranian drones," Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said at a briefing Tuesday.
At the same time, Ryder confirmed Ukrainian forces thwarted the Russian Kinzhal missile using an American-made Patriot system when asked during the briefing with reporters.
"We can confirm that the Ukrainians took down this Russian missile with a Patriot missile defense system," Ryder said.
The new $1.2 billion in U.S. military aid will come from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which the U.S. uses to purchase weapons and equipment from the defense industry or from partner nations on behalf of Ukraine.
Because the process involves defense contracts and, when not already on shelves, the need to build the requested items, it can take months or years before it reaches Ukraine.
Because of this, USAI represents longer-term support for Ukraine. For more immediate support, the U.S. has used another means called Presidential Drawdown Authority, which pulls equipment from existing American stockpiles to be sent to Ukraine.
"The United States will continue to work with our allies and our partners to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer term security assistance requirements," Ryder said.
The new USAI funds will also go toward artillery rounds, commercial satellite imagery services, and ammunition for anti-drone weapons.
The new $1.2 billion package will take the total USAI funds committed to Ukraine so far in fiscal year 2023 to roughly $5 billion. It will take total U.S. security assistance since the beginning of Russia's invasion in February of 2022 to nearly $37 billion.
Ukrainian gunmen ready to fire a US made M777 howitzer from their position on the front line in Kharkiv region, August 1, 2022, amid Russia's military invasion launched on Ukraine.
Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
During a press availability at the State Department Tuesday, the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was reserved when asked to comment on reports that the U.K. is preparing to send long-range missiles to Ukraine, weaponry Kyiv has long coveted and that the Biden administration has declined to supply.
"I'm sure you understand that anything to do with operational details, about the nature the timing, the scale of our support would be counterproductive for us to discuss publicly," he said.
But Cleverly staunchly defended the support provided by the U.S. and the speed at which it has reached Ukraine.
"It is the largest donor of the allies. So I wouldn't want to imply that there's either competition in between us or anything else," he said. "We have worked in close coordination from the very start," he said.
"The natures of our militaries is different," he continued. "The natures of our political system is different. There are some things that the UK is able to do more quickly because of the nature of our political system. And there are some things that the American system allows them to do different and better. It's not about always trying to replicate what our allies do."
