WASHINGTON: The Pentagon will provide Ukraine with $200 million in weapons and ammunition to help sustain Kyiv’s counteroffensive as troops on the front lines face significant hurdles against a well-entrenched Russian defense, according to two US officials.
This latest package will include missiles for the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and the Patriot air defense system, munitions for howitzers and tanks, Javelin rockets, mine-clearing equipment, 12 million rounds of small arms ammunition and demolition munitions, said a US official. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the aid has not yet been publicly announced.
The aid comes as the US funding for Ukraine is nearly all spent and the Biden administration is expected to request a new package of supplemental aid from Congress to continue that support.
Ukraine has already received more than $43 billion from the US since Russia invaded last year. Those funds have provided weapons systems like howitzers and millions of rounds of ammunition to fight back against the much larger Russian military. Due to the intense and bloody land war there, much of the ammunition and weaponry has already been used up.
In eastern areas of the country, intense fighting between the two sides means that along the front line, “multiple changes” in position and control take place within a day, Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, said Wednesday on her official Telegram channel.
The Biden administration is funding the Ukraine war effort through two programs. presidential drawdown authority, or PDA, which pulls weapons from existing US stockpiles; and the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, or USAI, which funds long-term contracts for larger weapons systems like tanks that need to be either built or modified by defense companies. Both funding tracks run through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
The administration would already be out of PDA money for fiscal year 2023 if the Pentagon had not discovered it made an accounting error by overvaluing previous rounds of weapons systems given to Ukraine. As a result, it has about $6.2 billion left in PDA money to keep support going until Congress approves additional funds. This latest aid package of $200 million is being drawn from that surplus.
“We feel confident that we can continue to supply Ukraine with what it needs on the battlefield,” Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said at a press briefing Tuesday. “I’m just not going to get ahead of anything in terms of any supplemental or any additional requests to Congress.”
There is also about $600 million remaining in fiscal year 2023 USAI funds.
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US to send $200 million in military aid to Ukraine
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US to send $200 million in military aid to Ukraine
- Ukraine has already received more than $43 billion from the US since Russia invaded last year
Police in France detain 9 people in suspected massive Louvre ticket fraud scheme
- Prosecutors also mentioned similar suspicions regarding a ticket fraud at the Palace of Versailles, without providing details
- The museum had filed a complaint in December 2024. Investigators found tour guides repeatedly reuse the same tickets for different visitors
PARIS: The Paris prosecutors office on Thursday said that nine people were being detained as part of an investigation into a suspected decade-long, 10 million euro ($11.8 million) ticket fraud scheme at the Louvre, the world’s most visited museum.
The arrests took place on Tuesday as part of a judicial investigation opened after the Louvre filed a complaint in December 2024, the prosecutors’ office said.
The loss for the museum over the past decade is estimated to exceed 10 million euros ($11.8 million), it said.
Those detained include two Louvre employees, several tour guides and one person suspected of being the mastermind, according to the prosecutors’ office.
The museum alerted investigators about the frequent presence of two Chinese tour guides suspected of bringing groups of Chinese tourists into the museum by fraudulently reusing the same tickets multiple times for different visitors. Other guides were later suspected of similar practices.
The prosecutors’ office said surveillance and wiretaps confirmed repeated ticket reuse and an apparent strategy of splitting up tour groups to avoid paying the required “speaking fee” imposed on guides. The investigation also pointed to suspected accomplices within the Louvre, with guides allegedly paying them cash in exchange for avoiding ticket checks, it said.
A formal judicial investigation was opened in June last year on charges including organized fraud, money laundering, corruption, aiding illegal entry in the country as part of an organized group, and the use of forged administrative documents.
Investigators believe the network may have brought in up to 20 tour groups a day over the past decade.
Suspects are believed to have invested some of the money in real estate in France and Dubai. Authorities have seized more than 957,000 euros ($1.13 million) in cash, including 67,000 euros ($79,459) in foreign currency, as well as 486,000 euros ($576,374) from bank accounts.
The prosecutors’ office mentioned a similar ticket fraud is also suspected to have taken place at the Palace of Versailles, without providing further details.
In October, the crown jewels robbery at the Louvre draw worldwide attention to the museum, after a team of four people broke in through a window during visiting hours and fled with an estimated 88 million euros ($104 million) worth of treasures. Authorities have arrested several suspects in that case, but the stolen items remain missing.
The arrests took place on Tuesday as part of a judicial investigation opened after the Louvre filed a complaint in December 2024, the prosecutors’ office said.
The loss for the museum over the past decade is estimated to exceed 10 million euros ($11.8 million), it said.
Those detained include two Louvre employees, several tour guides and one person suspected of being the mastermind, according to the prosecutors’ office.
The museum alerted investigators about the frequent presence of two Chinese tour guides suspected of bringing groups of Chinese tourists into the museum by fraudulently reusing the same tickets multiple times for different visitors. Other guides were later suspected of similar practices.
The prosecutors’ office said surveillance and wiretaps confirmed repeated ticket reuse and an apparent strategy of splitting up tour groups to avoid paying the required “speaking fee” imposed on guides. The investigation also pointed to suspected accomplices within the Louvre, with guides allegedly paying them cash in exchange for avoiding ticket checks, it said.
A formal judicial investigation was opened in June last year on charges including organized fraud, money laundering, corruption, aiding illegal entry in the country as part of an organized group, and the use of forged administrative documents.
Investigators believe the network may have brought in up to 20 tour groups a day over the past decade.
Suspects are believed to have invested some of the money in real estate in France and Dubai. Authorities have seized more than 957,000 euros ($1.13 million) in cash, including 67,000 euros ($79,459) in foreign currency, as well as 486,000 euros ($576,374) from bank accounts.
The prosecutors’ office mentioned a similar ticket fraud is also suspected to have taken place at the Palace of Versailles, without providing further details.
In October, the crown jewels robbery at the Louvre draw worldwide attention to the museum, after a team of four people broke in through a window during visiting hours and fled with an estimated 88 million euros ($104 million) worth of treasures. Authorities have arrested several suspects in that case, but the stolen items remain missing.
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