US State Department approves $165 million foreign military sale to Ukraine

The US State Department approved a foreign military sale worth $165 million to Ukraine on Monday.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of the deal on 24 April.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited Kyiv over the weekend.

The deal was conveyed to the Ukrainians during their visit.

A senior Defense Department official said, “It’s the kind of ammunition that the Ukrainians still use because many of their systems are ex-soviet.”

“The proposed sale will improve Ukraine’s capability to meet current and future threats by maintaining the operational readiness of its forces,” it resumed.

US is providing several kinds of aid to Ukraine. The sale is one of many ways of its assistance.

Ukraine has requested the purchase of “various rounds of non-standard ammunition,” including “152mm rounds for 2A36 Giatsint, 152mm rounds for D-20 cannons, VOG-17 for automatic grenade launcher AGS-17, etc.