Russian flag over Bakhmut City Council, US waits for AFU offensive, Shoigu “destroys” Paladin. What happened on the front line on April 4?

Arms supplies

The US will send Ukraine another package of military aid, according to a press release issued by the Pentagon. The Biden administration has decided to give Kyiv “more ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS, air defense interceptors, and artillery rounds that Ukraine is using to defend itself, as well as anti-armor systems, small arms, heavy equipment transport vehicles, and maintenance support essential to strengthening Ukraine's defenders on the battlefield valued at up to $500 million.”

The total cost of the equipment and weapons to be supplied will amount to $2.6 billion, according to the report. The military aid package will also include air defense systems, mortar systems, artillery and tank ammunition.

The shipment will mark the thirty-fifth tranche of equipment from the US Defense Department's stockpile for Ukraine, which the Biden administration has authorized since August 2021. The Pentagon noted that most of the package (worth $2.1 billion) is delivered under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) program, which does not involve deliveries from US stocks, instead operating through additional orders for equipment and armament production, which can take quite a long time to execute.

The capabilities in this package include:

Additional munitions for Patriot air defense systems;
Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);
155mm and 105mm artillery rounds;
120mm mortar rounds;
120mm and 105mm tank ammunition;
25mm ammunition;
Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
Approximately 400 grenade launchers and 200,000 rounds of ammunition;
11 tactical vehicles to recover equipment;
61 heavy fuel tankers;
10 trucks and 10 trailers to transport heavy equipment;
Testing and diagnostic equipment to support vehicle maintenance and repair;
Spare parts and other field equipment.

Under USAI, the Department of Defense will provide Ukraine with:

Additional munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS);
Nine counter-Unmanned Aerial System 30mm gun trucks;
10 mobile c-UAS laser-guided rocket systems;
Three air surveillance radars;
30mm and 23mm anti-aircraft ammunition;
130mm and 122mm artillery rounds;
122mm GRAD rockets;
Rocket launchers and ammunition;
120mm and 81mm mortar systems;
120mm, 81mm, and 60mm mortar rounds;
120mm tank ammunition;
Javelin anti-armor systems;
Anti-armor rockets;
Precision aerial munitions;
Approximately 3,600 small arms and more than 23,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition;
Seven tactical vehicles to recover equipment;
Eight heavy fuel tankers and 105 fuel trailers;
Armored bridging systems;
Four logistics support vehicles;
Trucks and ten trailers to transport heavy equipment;
Secure communications equipment;
SATCOM terminals and services;
Funding for training, maintenance, and sustainment.

Russian military expert Ilya Kramnik commented that combined with the stockpile already accumulated and the two previous packages issued in March, which included engineering and demining equipment as well as ammunition, the current weapons transfer looks like preparation for a counteroffensive.

According to a Voice of America report citing US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith, Washington and NATO allies expect the AFU to launch a spring offensive against Russian forces “in the coming weeks” – the schedule and the tactics of a possible offensive will be left up to Ukraine to determine, the official noted.

Australian company EOS Defense System has announced that it had signed a contract with the Ukrainian state-owned company SpetsTekhnoEksport (STE) for up to $80 million to supply 100 unnamed Remote Weapons Systems (RWS). The unnamed devices are likely the R400S-MK2-D-HD systems, which are already mounted on some of the Bushmaster and Inkas Titan-S armored vehicles supplied to the AFU.