WASHINGTON -- The U.S. is sending Ukraine $400 million more in military aid and establishing a security assistance headquarters in Germany that will oversee all weapons transfers and military training for Ukraine, the Pentagon announced Friday.
The $400 million in aid includes funding for additional air defenses to help Ukraine better defend itself against escalating Russian missile and drone attacks that have badly damaged the country's power and water infrastructure.
The U.S. has committed more than $18.2 billion in weapons and other equipment to Ukraine since the war began Feb. 24.
"We recognize the acute need for air defense at this critical moment when Russia and Russian forces are raining missiles and Iranian drones down on the civilian infrastructure of this country," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday at a press conference in Kyiv after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Sullivan is one of the highest-ranking U.S. officials to visit Kyiv and his trip had not been previously announced for security reasons.
The $400 million in aid also includes contracts for 1,100 Phoenix Ghost drones, funding to refurbish 45 tanks and an additional 40 riverine boats.
The Phoenix Ghost drone is an armed "kamikaze drone" that explodes on contact with its target.
The T-72 tanks are being pulled from existing defense industry inventory in the Czech Republic -- paid for by the Netherlands -- and will have advanced optics, communications and armor packages. They are part of a total package of 90 of the T-72 tanks that will be sent to Ukraine through 2023, the Pentagon said.
Additional air defense against drones will be provided by Hawk surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles that will be refurbished and provided to Ukraine.
The missile system is no longer in use by the U.S. but the missiles, once refurbished, will give Ukraine another medium-range air defense option, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said. Hawk missiles have a longer range than the Stinger anti-aircraft missiles the U.S. has previously provided.
However, because the weapons are being procured through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative they will not be ready for immediate transfer to Kyiv. Weapons provided through initiative funding are obtained through longer-term industry contracts instead of being drawn from U.S. weapons stockpiles.
The new command post, Security Assistance Group Ukraine, signals a more permanent, long-term program to continue to aid Kyiv in its fight against Russia, Singh said.
The new post that will oversee this aid will be led by a three-star-level senior officer and have about 300 personnel based in Germany who will monitor the weapons assistance and training programs, said U.S. Army Europe spokesman Col. Martin O'Donnell.
The Security Assistance Group Ukraine is being established as the U.S. is focusing on longer-term efforts to improve accountability for the billions of dollars in U.S. weaponry that has flowed into Ukraine and ensure it does not fall into Russian hands.
The State Department's plan unveiled last week includes limited on-the-ground monitoring by U.S. military personnel, Pentagon spokesman Air Force Gen. Pat Ryder said this week.
"When and where security conditions permit, a small team comprised of U.S. Embassy Kyiv -- Office of the Defense Attache personnel have conducted multiple inspections of U.S. security assistance deliveries within the last couple months at locations in Ukraine," Ryder said. "These locations are not near the front lines of Russia's war against Ukraine."
'ENERGY TERRORISM'
In Kyiv, Zelenskyy has accused Russia of engaging in "energy terrorism" after Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy network left millions of residents without power.
About 4.5 million people were without electricity across the country, Zelenskyy said in his nightly address. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 450,000 apartments in the capital alone did not have electricity Friday.
"I appeal to all residents of the capital: save electricity as much as possible, because the situation remains difficult!" the mayor wrote on Telegram. State-owned grid operator Ukrenergo reported Friday that emergency blackouts would take place across Kyiv.
Russia has repeatedly carried out missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian power facilities, particularly in recent weeks. In his address, Zelenskyy described the targeting of energy infrastructure as a sign of weakness.
"The very fact that Russia is resorting to energy terrorism shows the weakness of our enemy," he said. "They cannot beat Ukraine on the battlefield, so they try to break our people this way."
Zelenskyy spoke soon after Moscow-appointed authorities in southern Ukraine's occupied Kherson region said Russian troops were likely to leave the city of Kherson -- a claim Ukrainian officials greeted with some skepticism.
The Kremlin-installed regional administration already has moved tens of thousands of civilians out of the city, citing the threat of increased shelling as Ukraine's army pursues a counteroffensive to reclaim the area. Authorities removed the Russian flag from the Kherson administration building Thursday.
Ukraine's southern military spokeswoman, Natalia Humeniuk, said the flag's removal could be a ruse "and we should not hurry to rejoice." She told Ukrainian television that some Russian military personnel are disguising themselves as civilians.
Neither side's claims could be independently verified.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian officials reported shooting down drones launched by Russian forces: eight drones in the Nikopol area, which was also subjected to artillery shelling, and another drone over the western Lviv region.
The commander of Ukraine's armed forces, Valeriy Zaluzhny, said Russian forces had "tripled the intensity of hostilities on certain areas of the front" and were carrying out "up to 80 attacks every day."
Zelenskyy's office reported Friday that at least nine civilians were killed and 16 wounded by attacks in Ukraine over the past 24 hours.
The Russian army attacked four cities close to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant with drones and heavy artillery. The governor of Dnipropetrovsk province said Friday that houses, cars and a gas pipeline were damaged overnight in Chervonohryhorivka, and the town was without electricity.
In the eastern Donetsk province, the town of Pokrovsk was the hardest hit, with rocket attacks damaging a school and at least 22 residential buildings, killing one civilian and wounding another six.
Donetsk province governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said 12 towns and villages were shelled, including Bakhmut and Avdiivka, which have been particularly hard hit in recent weeks.
In the occupied Kherson region, the Ukrainian army shelled Russian bases and logistics facilities, destroying two ammunition warehouses, Ukrainian army officials said.
Russia illegally annexed the Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine in late September and subsequently declared martial law in the four provinces.
MEETING GOALS
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Friday that there was still a steady stream of volunteers wanting to join the Russian military, with 318,000 people already mobilized. Authorities previously said the goal was to mobilize some 300,000 reservists.
Putin said 49,000 are already in the army and performing combat missions, while the rest are still being trained. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that 87,000 had been deployed to Ukraine. The discrepancy could not be immediately reconciled.
When Russia announced the mobilization drive in September, protests broke out in several regions and tens of thousands of Russians fled the country.
Putin also signed a law Friday permitting the military mobilization of those with expunged or outstanding convictions for certain serious crimes, including those who have recently served time for murder, robbery and drug trafficking.
The Russian military said it struck a rocket engine factory in the Dnipropetrovsk province city of Pavlohrad, as well as a factory producing rockets for multiple launch rocket systems in the northeastern city of Kharkiv. Ukraine did not confirm the attacks.
In the Black Sea, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said "the functioning of grain corridors continues" according to plan. Russia agreed Wednesday to rejoin a wartime agreement brokered by the United Nations and Turkey allowing Ukrainian grain to be shipped to world markets. Moscow had suspended its participation in the grain deal over the weekend, citing an alleged drone attack against its Black Sea fleet in Crimea.
As one condition for returning to the deal, Russia demanded the grain be sent to poorer countries, arguing that most of it was ending up in richer nations. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that he had discussed the issue of prioritizing less-developed countries for the grain shipments during a call with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
During a recent call with Putin, Erdogan said he also discussed the possibility of sending the grain to nations facing famine for free and the two leaders planned to hold further talks on the topic at a Group of 20 meeting in Bali this month.
Information for this article was contributed by Tara Copp, Andrew Meldrum and Suzan Fraser of The Associated Press.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Friday in Kyiv, Ukraine. (AP/Ukrainian Presidential Press Office)
Ivan Kulta, 68, drinks tea outside his destroyed apartment building Friday in Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine after a Russian rocket barrage. A school and at least 22 residential buildings were damaged and one civilian was killed, officials said. More photos at arkansasonline.com/ukrainemonth9/. (AP/Andriy Andriyenko)Gallery: Images from Ukraine and Russia, month 9
