While hyping the movement of Russian troops near the border with Ukraine, the US has delivered multiple military shipments to Kyiv.
A Newsweek report that cited local media said that over the past two weeks, the US had made three military cargo deliveries to Ukraine. On March 25th, 350 tonnes of cargo was delivered by ship to the Black Sea port city of Odessa in southern Ukraine. Included in the delivery were 35 Humvees.
On April 2nd, a US Air Force C-17A Globemaster III military transport aircraft flew to Kyiv from a US base in Germany. On April 4th, another C-17A Globemaster III landed in the western city of Lviv. It’s not clear what the planes were carrying, but the C-17A Globemaster IIIs can transport up to 102 troops and 77 tons of cargo.
Since the US-backed coup in Kyiv in 2014 that sparked the fighting in the eastern Donbas region, the US has provided Ukraine with more than $2 billion in military aid. The Pentagon recently announced a new $125 million package for Ukraine that includes armed patrol boats, and another $150 million is expected to be provided sometime this year.
The news of the military deliveries come as tensions in the region are skyrocketing. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky is calling for Ukraine to become a full-fledged member of NATO and is traveling to the conflict zone in Donbas on Thursday.