US to Send Ukraine $725M More in Arms  12/03 06:05

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. is preparing to send Ukraine an additional $725 
million in military assistance, including counter-drone systems and munitions 
for its High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, which could indicate more of the 
longer-range missiles are headed to the battlefield.

   It was unclear whether the munitions for the HIMARS are the coveted ATACMS 
-- the Army Tactical Missile System -- but Ukraine has been pressing for more 
of the longer-range missiles to strike additional targets inside Russia.

   The package, announced Monday by the State Department, also includes more of 
the anti-personnel land mines that Ukraine is counting on to slow Russian and 
North Korean ground forces in Russia's Kursk region.

   President Joe Biden has pledged to spend all of the military assistance 
funds Congress approved this year for Ukraine before the end of his 
administration on Jan. 20, which before Monday's announcement included about 
$7.1 billion in weapons that would be drawn from the Pentagon's stockpiles.

   There is widespread speculation about what the new Trump administration will 
mean for Ukraine as the incoming president has promised to end the conflict. In 
a major shift, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled on Friday that 
an an offer of NATO membership to territory under Kyiv's control could end "the 
hot stage of the war."