US announces fresh $100 million in aid – DW – 11/21/2023

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced a fresh package of US military aid to Ukraine worth $100 million (approximately €91.38 million), during a surprise visit to Kyiv.

The State Department said the new package includes three million rounds of small-arms ammunition and equipment for the HIMARS precision rocket launchers.

The US has supplied Ukraine since the start of the war with some $40 billion worth of security assistance, which has proved integral in Kyiv’s fight against Moscow.

“The message that I bring you today, Mr. President, is that the United States of America is with you. We will remain with you for the long haul,” Austin told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the visit.

Zelenskyy told Austin that his visit was “a very important signal” for Ukraine.

“We count on your support,” he added.

Recently, the sustainability of such key support has been called into question, with Republicans only advancing military aid to Israel out of an aid package for both Ukraine and Israel requested by President Joe Biden.

The United States has banned the entry of two Russians over their alleged involvement in human rights violations in Ukraine, the US State Department said on Monday.

The sanctions extend to their immediate families.

The State Department accused Russian Colonel Azatbek Omurbekov and Russian Guard Corporal Daniil Frolkin of committing extrajudicial killings of unarmed civilians in Ukraine.

Omurbekov, who has been called the “Butcher of Bucha,” led a unit of soldiers that allegedly killed, dismembered and burned civilians in the town of Bucha, close to Kyiv, during the Russian occupation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin subsequently praised the unit and promoted Omurbekov.

Frolkin has been accused of executing an unarmed civilian in the eastern Ukrainian town of Andriivka.

“The reports that Omurbekov and Frolkin were involved in gross violations of human rights, as documented by NGOs and independent investigations, are serious and credible,” the State Department said in a press release.