US speeds up military aid to Ukraine, to send 500 interceptor missiles

The United States will ship more than 500 interceptor missiles to Ukraine in the weeks ahead, speeding up Washington’s military aid delivery to the war-ravaged country, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

Citing an unnamed Pentagon official, the WSJ reported that before the U.S. presidential election, in which former Republican President Donald Trump defeated his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. administration had been aiming to deliver the remainder of its aid to Ukraine by April.

The delivery of the interceptors for the Patriot missile defence system and the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, or NASAMS, should meet Ukraine’s air defence needs for the rest of this year, the newspaper reported, citing an unnamed U.S. official.

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Reuters could not independently verify the Wall Street Journal report.

The office of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian defence ministry, the Pentagon and the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Zelenskyy has been pleading for months for more weaponry and for NATO allies to help Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with long-range Western missiles.

The 2-1/2-year-old Russian war in Ukraine has triggered the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the depths of the Cold War, and Russian officials say the war is now entering its most dangerous phase.

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On Friday, President Joe Biden’s administration said it would allow U.S. defence contractors to work in Ukraine to maintain and repair Pentagon-provided weaponry, in a significant policy shift that aims to aid Kyiv’s fight against Russia.