Pentagon announces another weapons drawdown for Ukraine

The Pentagon announced Sunday that it would again dip into its supply of weapons for the 38th drawdown of U.S. arms and equipment for Ukraine after a meeting between President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Group of Seven conference in Japan.

The $375 million security assistance package includes 155 mm and 105 mm artillery ammunition, anti-tank missiles, rounds for the HIMARS rocket system and items such as field ambulances, trucks and logistics support equipment.

Mr. Biden met with Mr. Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G7 meeting and confirmed to him that the U.S. would join the effort to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including the U.S.-made F-16 Fighting Falcon.

“It’s part of our long-term commitment to Ukraine’s ability to defend itself,” Mr. Biden told reporters in Hiroshima, Japan, after the conference.

The White House dropped its reluctance to allow F-16s to be part of any assistance package for Ukraine after months of pleading from Kyiv and growing pressure from NATO allies. Mr. Biden insisted Sunday that the F-16s wouldn’t have been beneficial to Ukraine before this point.

“Now, we’re moving in the direction of putting [Ukraine] in the position to be able to defend themselves in ways beyond what they’ve had to deal with so far,” Mr. Biden said.

Part of the White House’s hesitancy over providing F-16s to Ukraine was the Biden administration’s fear that they could be used to strike targets inside Russia and escalate the conflict. On Sunday, Mr. Biden said Ukraine’s leaders assured him they would operate only within their own territory.

Estimates for how long it would take to train Ukrainian pilots to fly the F-16 vary wildly, from a couple of months to more than a year. Mr. Biden said they likely wouldn’t be ready in time for current operations, such as Ukraine’s much-anticipated counteroffensive against Russian occupiers or the fight over the town of Bakhmut.

Russia has likely redeployed several battalions to reinforce the Bakhmut sector following recent Ukrainian gains on the flanks of the town that lies within the contested Donetsk Oblast.

“With Russia likely maintaining relatively few uncommitted combat units in Ukraine, the redeployment represents a notable commitment by the Russian command,” British intelligence analysts tweeted Saturday. “Russia’s leadership likely continue to see capturing Bakhmut as the key immediate war aim which would allow them to claim some degree of success in the conflict.”

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said pilots are ready to learn how to fly the F-16.

“They will now be able to support their brothers and sisters-in-arms on land and on sea to win this war,” Mr. Reznikov tweeted. “F-16s were created to beat the bad guys. Their time is now.”