US Sends Seized Iranian Weapons to Ukraine

A local resident walks through the ruins of a house destroyed by recent shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Horlivka (Gorlovka) in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, April 8, 2024. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
A local resident walks through the ruins of a house destroyed by recent shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Horlivka (Gorlovka) in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, April 8, 2024. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
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US Sends Seized Iranian Weapons to Ukraine

A local resident walks through the ruins of a house destroyed by recent shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Horlivka (Gorlovka) in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, April 8, 2024. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
A local resident walks through the ruins of a house destroyed by recent shelling, which local Russian-installed authorities called a Ukrainian military strike, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in Horlivka (Gorlovka) in the Donetsk region, Russian-controlled Ukraine, April 8, 2024. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

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.



US Homelessness Up 18% as Affordable Housing Remains out of Reach for Many People

The number of homeless people reflects the huge problem faced by the world's largest economy (AFP).
The number of homeless people reflects the huge problem faced by the world's largest economy (AFP).
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US Homelessness Up 18% as Affordable Housing Remains out of Reach for Many People

The number of homeless people reflects the huge problem faced by the world's largest economy (AFP).
The number of homeless people reflects the huge problem faced by the world's largest economy (AFP).

The United States saw an 18.1% increase in homelessness this year, a dramatic rise driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing as well as devastating natural disasters and a surge of migrants in several parts of the country, federal officials said Friday.
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development said federally required tallies taken across the country in January found that more than 770,000 people were counted as homeless — a number that misses some people and does not include those staying with friends or family because they do not have a place of their own.
That increase comes on top of a 12% increase in 2023, which HUD blamed on soaring rents and the end of pandemic assistance. The 2023 increase also was driven by people experiencing homelessness for the first time. The numbers overall represent 23 of every 10,000 people in the US, with Black people being overrepresented among the homeless population.
“No American should face homelessness, and the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring every family has access to the affordable, safe, and quality housing they deserve,” HUD Agency Head Adrianne Todman said in a statement, adding that the focus should remain on “evidence-based efforts to prevent and end homelessness.”
Among the most concerning trends was a nearly 40% rise in family homelessness — one of the areas that was most affected by the arrival of migrants in big cities. Family homelessness more than doubled in 13 communities impacted by migrants including Denver, Chicago and New York City, according to HUD, while it rose less than 8% in the remaining 373 communities. Nearly 150,000 children experienced homelessness on a single night in 2024, reflecting a 33% jump from last year.
Disasters also played a part in the rise in the count, especially last year's catastrophic Maui wildfire, the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century. More than 5,200 people were staying in emergency shelters in Hawaii on the night of the count.
“Increased homelessness is the tragic, yet predictable, consequence of underinvesting in the resources and protections that help people find and maintain safe, affordable housing,” Renee Willis, incoming interim CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, in a statement. “As advocates, researchers, and people with lived experience have warned, the number of people experiencing homelessness continues to increase as more people struggle to afford sky-high housing costs.”
Robert Marbut Jr., the former executive director of the US Interagency Council on Homelessness from 2019 to 2021, called the nearly 33% increase in homelessness over the past four years “disgraceful” and said the federal government needs to abandon efforts to prioritize permanent housing.
“We need to focus on treatment of substance use and mental illness, and bring back program requirements, like job training,” Marbut said in an email.
The numbers also come as increasing numbers of communities are taking a hard line against homelessness.
Communities — especially in Western states — have been enforcing bans on camping as public pressure grows to address what some residents say are dangerous and unsanitary living conditions. That follows a 6-3 ruling earlier this year by the Supreme Court that found that outdoor sleeping bans don’t violate the Eighth Amendment. Homeless advocates argued that punishing people who need a place to sleep would criminalize homelessness.
There was some positive news in the count, as homelessness among veterans continued to trend downwards. Homelessness among veterans dropped 8% to 32,882 in 2024. It was an even larger decrease for unsheltered veterans, declining 11% to 13,851 in 2024.
“The reduction in veteran homelessness offers us a clear roadmap for addressing homelessness on a larger scale,” Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said in a statement. “With bipartisan support, adequate funding, and smart policy solutions, we can replicate this success and reduce homelessness nationwide. Federal investments are critical in tackling the country’s housing affordability crisis and ensuring that every American has access to safe, stable housing.”
Several large cities had success bringing down their homeless numbers. Dallas, which worked to overhaul its homeless system, saw a 16% drop in its numbers between 2022 to 2024. Los Angeles, which increased housing for the homeless, saw a drop of 5% in unsheltered homelessness since 2023. California, the most populous state in the US, continued to have the nation's largest homeless population, followed by New York, Washington, Florida and Massachusetts.
The sharp increase in the homeless population over the past two years contrasts with success the US had been having for more than a decade.
Going back to the first 2007 survey, the US made steady progress for about a decade in reducing the homeless population as the government focused particularly on increasing investments to get veterans into housing. The number of homeless people dropped from about 637,000 in 2010 to about 554,000 in 2017.
The numbers ticked up to about 580,000 in the 2020 count and held relatively steady over the next two years as Congress responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with emergency rental assistance, stimulus payments, aid to states and local governments and a temporary eviction moratorium.