equipment into the region and the ukrainians would pick up the military assistance at the border and transfer it into the country themselves. it is unclear at this moment whether that transfer has actually started. while the pentagon would not detail a list what was this first shipment eptails, officials has expected it would include some of the more pressing needs like howitzers and ammunition, radar systems that detect incoming fire and pinpoint their origin. this is part of an $800 million package president biden announced earlier in the week and will also include helicopters and more switch blade drones. there had been some biden administration officials who previously were hesitant to send this type of equipment into ukraine, worried it could pose a risk of escalation in the view of russia. but the ukrainians have asked for this type of weaponry and they re also preparing for a
house is constantly evaluating what ukraine needs as they continue to fight this war against russia, and what you have seen this week over the course of this weekend, really. the first shipments have started to arrive of that new $800 million worth of they d president biden approved earlier in the week. this includes much more sophisticated and heavy-duty weaponry than the u.s. previously been supplying to ukraine. those things that you mention. like the howitzers, switch blade drones and radar systems capable of detecting incoming fire and pinpointing their origin. now, these, the white house and the biden administration have said they tailored this request specifically to what the ukrainians have asked for, but a u.s. official did say there were concerns about the inventory of ammunition that ukrainians have. one official said that those howitzer and that 40,000 artillery rounds heading to
be imminent if it hasn t fallen already, how significant a loss is that going to be, general, when it happens? yeah. the fall of mariupol, look the siege of mariupol has been on going close to two months now, and it s really not warfare it s just indiscriminate firing on the part of the russians but the russians see this as a necessary condition to further move south and west toward kherson, to close that, to create that, really, to create that landbridge from crimea back into russia. so they have to grab mariupol. by doing that, that protects that flank and then as they turn to the south and the west, they have that protected behind them and to their right and now they can move in a sequence down toward kherson. okay. we want to talk also, general, tonight, about this warning as i call it, the weapons that the united states has sent, the helicopters, the switch blade drones, this warning from the russians we re learning from
potentially. the white house is shifting what they re sending to ukraine, partly because they want to tailor it to what they expect the russians will do, partly because this is what ukrainians have been requesting. they spent hours on the phone with chairman millie chief of staff and going over what they believe what they are preparing for russia was unable to capture the major city. so this is a new $800 million package, he laid it out during his 58-minute call today. as you see, it includes attack helicopters, hundreds more of those switch blade drones. these artillery comes. i am told specifically as of last night, they were not included in this package, that changed during that call that zelenskyy and biden had today. i am told zelenskyy appealed to president biden saying ukraine
getting assistance to russia, obviously, you know, we would not consider that helpful. but i m not confirming that it happened and, as i said before, i m not confirming what their intent is. reporter: have you seen any evidence that china has supported any military support for russia and ukraine? no. let s see. jeff. reporter: thank you. the defense department said it has shipped hundreds of switch blade drones to ukraine. is it possible to get a rough number? you ve been listening to the pentagon briefing pap question now to john kirby about training ukrainian forces to deal with the very advanced switch blade jouns excuse me, clint watts and ambassador mcfaul. clint, let s talk about what