Washington has given Ukraine small arms and ammunition that were seized while being sent from Iranian forces to Tehran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen, the US military has said.
The transfer last week came as Ukraine suffers from significant shortages of ammunition and US Republican lawmakers block new aid funding, but it does not address Kyiv's need for key items such as artillery and air defense munitions.
“The US government transferred over 5,000 AK-47s, machine guns, sniper rifles, RPG-7s and over 500,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces" on Thursday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on social media.
“The government obtained ownership of these munitions on December 1, 2023, through the Department of Justice's civil forfeiture claims,” it said on Tuesday.
“Iran's support for armed groups threatens international and regional security, our forces, diplomatic personnel, and citizens in the region, as well as those of our partners. We will continue to do whatever we can to shed light on and stop Iran's destabilizing activities,” CENTCOM said.
The Houthis have been targeting vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November 2023 in attacks they say are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza -- a significant international security challenge that threatens a major shipping lane.
Washington made a similar transfer to Ukraine in early October, providing 1.1 million rounds of 7.62mm ammunition that was seized from Iranian forces on the way to Yemen.
But funding for crucial artillery and air defense munitions for Ukraine has been held up by Republican lawmakers who have stalled a $60 billion support package in the US Congress since last year.
The United States announced a $300 million assistance package for Kyiv on March 12 -- the first since December -- that included anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons and artillery shells, but warned at the time that it would run out after a few weeks.
That package was funded by using money that the Pentagon saved on other purchases, allowing the US government to provide aid despite the congressional impasse.
Washington has been by far Kyiv's biggest donor of security aid, committing tens of billions of dollars to aid Ukraine since the invasion.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III told lawmakers on Tuesday that his department seeks to invest in American security and in America's defense industrial base.
It's also why the administration has requested nearly $60 billion in the National Security Supplemental for the Department of Defense, he said.
“And that supplemental would support our partners in Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan while making investments to increase submarine production,” the Secretary of Defense added.
Also, Austin explained that about $50 billion of this supplemental would flow through our industrial base, rushing aid to our partners while creating good American jobs in more than 30 states.
He then thanked all those who have worked to pass an effective funding package. And now we are more than two years into the Kremlin's war of aggression against Ukraine.
Austin also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is betting that the United States will falter and abandon our friends and leave Ukraine in mortal danger.
“If the Kremlin prevails in Ukraine, it would embolden would-be aggressors around the globe. The United States would be far less secure if Putin got his way in Ukraine,” he said.
The Secretary of Defense reiterated that Biden has warned Putin will not stop at Ukraine.
“If America walked away, we would put the free world in peril and risk unimaginable cost and dangers,” he said, adding that the price of US leadership is real, but it is far lower than the price of US abdication.
During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Defense Department's FY 2025 budget request, Austin said the US is in a global struggle between democracy and autocracy and that its security in these turbulent times relies on Americans' strength of purpose.
At the same hearing, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force General Charles Quinton Brown cited five challenges the US is currently facing. “The risky behavior of China, a newly aggressive Russia, and a destabilizing Iran and North Korea were among them — as being threats to an increasingly complex global security environment,” he said.
On Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron described US support for Ukraine as the “keystone in the arch” of the fight for democracy in his latest appeal to Congress over a stalled package of aid.
During a visiting to Washington, he warned that success for Kyiv in defeating Russia is “vital for American and European security.”
He urged lawmakers across the Atlantic to approve “urgent” further assistance for the country.
Cameron’s German counterpart Annalena Baerbock earlier also urged increased international efforts to supply more air defense systems in view of the threat of a major Russian offensive on the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.
