Chris Lange, FISM News
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The Biden administration has announced a new $325 million in security assistance for Ukraine. The Pentagon said in a release that the administration authorized a Presidential Drawdown of security assistance that includes “more ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS, artillery rounds, and anti-armor capabilities essential to strengthening Ukraine’s defenders on the battlefield valued at up to $325 million.”
The latest package marks the 36th such drawdown of equipment from Department of Defense inventories since August 2021.
The release stated that the U.S. “will continue to work with its Allies and partners to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer-term security assistance requirements.”
To date, the Biden administration has provided Ukraine with $36.1 billion worth of security assistance for, per a Pentagon fact sheet.
UKRAINE OFFICIAL SAYS SOME COUNTEROFFENSIVE MEASURES AGAINST RUSSIA ALREADY UNDERWAY
A long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive may already be partially underway. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Wednesday that Kyiv would never preemptively disclose its military plans but added that Ukrainian forces have already begun taking some counteroffensive actions against the Russian invaders, according to the most recent assessment of the conflict published by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
According to the report, the deputy defense minister said that Russian forces are currently focused on offensives in the directions of Avdiivka, Bakhmut, Lyman, and Marinka. Maylar further relayed that Moscow has concentrated “weapons, equipment, and all professional units…around Bakhmut.” Russia’s military and contracted Wagner Group fighters have been making incremental gains in recent days in the months’-long, brutal battle over the city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
Mylar reiterated Ukraine’s military objective of liberating every inch of Ukrainian territory from Russian occupiers.
MEDVEDEV THREATENS RETALIATION AFTER SOUTH KOREA’S YOON SHIFTS STANCE ON LETHAL AID FOR UKRAINE
Former Russian President and Putin advisor Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow may provide North Korea with the “latest” Russian weapons. The threat was made following remarks made by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol suggesting that continued “large scale” attacks on Ukrainian civilians could prompt a reversal of Seoul’s opposition to providing lethal aid to Kyiv.
“If there is a situation the international community cannot condone, such as any large-scale attack on civilians, massacre or serious violation of the laws of war, it might be difficult for us to insist only on humanitarian or financial support,” Yoon told Reuters on Wednesday.
Medvedev declared on the Telegram messaging app later in the day that “new parties” have emerged to “help our enemies.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that Russia would consider such a move by South Korea as direct involvement in the conflict.
“Unfortunately, Seoul has taken a rather unfriendly position in this whole story,” Peskov told reporters Wednesday. “They will try to draw more and more countries directly into this conflict. But of course, the start of arms deliveries will obliquely mean a certain stage of involvement in this conflict.”
Washington has been pressuring Seoul, a major producer of artillery ammunition, to provide weapons assistance to Ukraine. Yoon has so far been reluctant to do so out of fear of angering Russia, which has significant influence over North Korea. South Korea also has business interests in Moscow.
Yoon will travel to Washington next week to meet with President Joe Biden to mark the 70th anniversary of the alliance between the two countries.
NATO CHIEF VISITS KYIV
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg paid his first visit to Ukraine since the 2022 Russian invasion. The symbolic trip, meant to emphasize the alliance’s support for Ukraine, prompted an immediate reaction from Moscow.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia’s position remains that Ukraine must not be allowed to join NATO. Speaking to reporters in a conference call on Thursday, Peskov said Ukraine’s accession would pose a “serious, significant threat to our country, to our country’s security.”
The Associated Press reported that images published in local media showed Stoltenberg paying tribute to fallen Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv’s St. Michael’s Square.