defense secretary lloyd austin, as well as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general mark milley have held daily calls with our counterparts in the region, urging them to ship more supplies and equipment into ukrainian. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy told our colleague jake tapper that he is appreciative of this new military assistance, but said that much more is needed and will be needed in the coming weeks. now at the same time, russia has been protesting the u.s. sending this type of equipment into ukraine, sending a diplomatic note to the state department warning of, quote, unpredictable consequences if they keep arming the ukrainians. but for the time being, the u.s. does not appear to be deterred in any way from providing this type of weaponry to ukraine. and they re adapting the kinds of weapons that they are sending, sending more sophisticated and heavy-duty equipment and weaponry into ukrainian, even after some
shipment entails, officials expected it would include some of the more pressing needs, things like howitzers. now, this is part of an $800 million package president biden announced earlier in the week and will also include helicopters and more switchblade drones. now, there had been some biden administration officials who previously were hesitant to send this type of equipment into ukraine, worried that 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 heightened battle in the eastern part of the country, where the terrain is different and they need more equipment. now, russia is also protesting this military support that the u.s. has been offering to ukraine. sources tell cnn that russia sent a diplomatic note to the state department warning of,
this type of equipment in. but assessing what is happening on the ground in ukraine, especially as fighting is expected to pick up in the eastern part of the country, the u.s. decided to move forward with some of these requests for supplies that ukraine had submitted. now at the same time, russia has been protesting the u.s. sending military equipment into ukraine. sources have told cnn that russia sent a diplomatic note to the state department warning of, quote, unpredictable consequences if the u.s. continues to supply weaponry to ukraine, raising questions about how exactly russia might respond as more shipments go into the country. so far the u.s. remains undeterred in trying to assist ukraine as they continue to defend and fight off those russian forces. it s clear that with much of the fighting expected to pick up in the eastern part of the country, in the coming days, the u.s. is really adapting their strategy of the types of assistance that