USA wants more lethal weapons in Ukraine, readies to spend $250 million for the purpose

America will continue to provide assistance to Ukraine, and the problems associated with the change of power in the United States will not be an obstacle in the process. Joe Biden stated back during his pre-election campaign, said that he would continue providing military assistance to Ukraine and other countries of the former USSR.

One may expect the United States to increase the "necessary economic and military support" for Ukraine. In fact, it goes about "lethal weapons" that Ukraine needs "to defend its territorial integrity."

Earlier, the USA had sent about 200 state-of-the-art anti-tank Javelin FGM-148E missiles to Ukraine. The complexes were deployed on the border with Russia in the Kherson region and Donbass. However, rumour has it that some of the systems went missing and were probably sold to someone else, this is what they write on social media, at least.

In addition, two patrol boats of the "Island" type (the United States donated them to Ukraine), are on duty in the Black Sea near the Crimea. Those boats can be armed with anti-ship missiles and other offensive weapons.

According to the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States, Washington intends to hand over three Island-class patrol boats to Kiev in the near future. Three crews arrived in the United States to undergo a ten-week training course in the city of Baltimore.

The Americans also plan to reinforce the Ukrainian Navy with 16 modern Mark VI patrol boats. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba is waiting for six more boats for free, while the rest will be acquired at the expense of Ukraine's defense budget. The total cost of the project is $600 million.

It is worth noting that Mark VI boats can be equipped with two automatic 25-mm artillery cannons, 40-mm automatic grenade launchers Mk 19 and can be compatible with BGM-176B Griffin guided missiles, capable of destroying both surface and ground targets.

The exercises that the United States holds together with Ukraine also attract attention.

• Annual Sea Breeze war games in the Black Sea are held to practice scenarios to "liberate the occupied territories."
• The country's airspace near the borders of the Russian Federation is regularly patrolled by strategic bombers and reconnaissance aircraft.
• It has long been known that American military advisers operate in the Ukrainian army.
• It is also alarming that in November 2020, representatives of the elite marine corps visited the front-line zone in the Donbass.

Republican Donald Trump suspended military aid to Kiev for four years, but Biden and his team  will win the time back.

The Democrats could win the allocation of large amounts from the US budget for 2021 to strengthen the combat capability of the Ukrainian army. In 2021, the US will spend $25 million more for those purposes. A total of $250 million is included in the budget for making the Ukrainian armed forces stronger.

Biden has personal motives to pursue in dealing with Kiev. Several years ago, he was the unofficial curator of the Ukrainian direction and appeared in a scandal related to the affairs of his son Hunter and gas oligarch Nikolai Zlochevsky. Those Ukrainian citizens and media outlets that covered the story have already been blacklisted and sanctioned.

It transpired that William Burns, who had served as US Ambassador to Russia in the past, would be the new director of the CIA. According to Foreign Policy, Mike Carpenter, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia, could become Biden's close adviser.

Ukraine's former foreign affairs minister Pavel Klimkin does not exclude an increase in the supplies of lethal weapons to Ukraine. Russia may thus see a rise in the number of military provocations. Trump was neutral about all that, but his time did not last long.