thanks, ari. john kirby ready to speak to the press and explain this. let s listen in. equipment from dod inventories from ukraine since august of 2021. capabilities include and you can see it up there, 72 155 millimeter howitzers and 144,000 rounds. 72 tactical vehicles, which are designed to tow the howitzers. more than 120 phoenix ghost tactical unmanned aerial systems and field equipment and additional spare parts. this commitment together with the 18 howitzers that announced on april 13 provide enough artillery now to equip five be a italians for ukraine for potential use in the donbas. i want to stress again that what we re providing is done in full consultation with the ukrainians and that they believe that these systems will be helpful to them
7, 7,200 howitzers. 144,000 artillery rounds as well. you have vehicles to tow those howitzers as well as over 121 additional drones, similar to those switchblade drones that the ukrainians have been using thanks to the united states. all of this coming as president biden making clear that there is now a critical window to help ukraine in this next phase of the campaign. we re in a critical window now of time where that they re going to set the stage for the next phase of this war. and the united states and our allies and partners are moving as fast as possible to continue to provide ukraine the forces that they need, the weapons they need, excuse me, the equipment they need, their forces need to defend their nation. reporter: and in order to keep up that support, to keep it going as fast as possible, and for the long-term, president biden said that two things need to happen. first of all, the u.s. and its allies need to remain united. that has been a key effort by the white hous
because if he were to do so, it would tell any nation that has nuclear weapons, say china, vis-a-vis taiwan, that you can invade a neighbor and not pay any consequence for it. so i think the president should ignore the clock and he should continue to arm ukraine and seek victory and define victory, a free and sovereign ukraine with its territorial integrity intact. from a military standpoint, are we giving ukraine enough weapons to win this war? we are beginning to. i mean, we ve given them now five battalions, artillery, 144,000 rounds. that s a nois down payment. we need to figure out a way to get them tanks they can operate, which means russian-made tanks. we need to get them more drones and eventually better aircraft so that they can compete for the
happy thursday. welcome to meet the press daily. i m chuck todd. with the war in ukraine in its ninth week, believe it or not, president biden is once again sending hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to ukraine. the additional aid comes amid new questions about the war and efforts to end it. is the u.s. doing enough to support ukraine? are we giving ukraine enough to win the war rather than just simply keep russia from winning the war? and is russia s declaration of victory in the key city of mariupol premature? this morning president biden announced yet another $800 million package to ukraine for heavy artillery, 144,000 rounds of ammunition, dozens of howitzers, some tactical drones among ere things. in addition to that aid, a ban on russian-affiliated ships from all u.s. ports along with plans to ask congress for another round of emergency funding for the war. every american taxpayer,
by may the 9th, he can claim a victory, a big victory in ukraine or at least in eastern ukraine. will he be able to do that? that s another question. the united states is sending more military assistance to ukraine, including howitzer artillery pieces and phoenix ghosts drones developed specifically for the ukraine conflict. president biden said the nature of the warfare on ukraine s eastern front meant different equipment was required. today, i m announcing another $800 million to further augment ukraine s ability to fight in the east and the donbas region. this package includes heavy artillery weapons, dozens of howitzers and 144,000 rounds of ammunition to go with those howitzers. it also includes more tactical drones. in the past two months, we ve moved weapons and equipment to ukraine at record speed. we sent thousands of