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The United States has confirmed the delivery of American-made, Javelin anti-tank missile systems to Ukraine.
This was reported by the official representative of the U.S. State Department.
At the end of 2017, President Donald Trump agreed to sell lethal weapons to Ukraine, including Javelin anti-tank missile systems. On March 1, the U.S. State Department approved the sale of 210 Javelins and 37 Javelin launchers to Ukraine, for a total of about $47 million.
The U.S. military budget for the fiscal year, includes providing Ukraine with $350 million in defense aid, including the possibility of supplying lethal weapons.
Javelin is an American, portable, anti-tank missile system, intended to damage armored vehicles, tanks, unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters and landing gear propellers.
This is a symbolic victory for Ukraine in its effort to maintain Western backing in the ongoing four-year conflict.
Two sources, who wished to remain anonymous, as they were not authorized to speak publicly about it, confirmed the Javelin deliveries to Radio Svoboda, ahead of the State Department announcement. Neither disclosed when the missile systems arrived in Ukraine, whether all the promised missiles and launchers had been sent, where they are being stored, or whether Ukraine’s military has begun training on Javelins.
The spokesperson for the State Department, Heather Nauert, said in December that U.S. military assistance to Ukraine was intended to bolster that country’s ability to “defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to deter further aggression.”
The Javelins’ delivery is likely to anger Moscow, which rejects accusations of involvement in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, despite mounting evidence that includes tapping weapons movements, captured Russian troops and intercepted communications.
Since 2015, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with $750 million in non-lethal aid, which includes Humvees, night-vision equipments, and short-range radar systems.
As reported by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Special Monitoring Mission, there has been a rise in shellings in Eastern Ukraine.
