US sending $725 million in arms to Ukraine, including more landmines

Washington: The Pentagon will send Ukraine an additional $725 million in military assistance from its stockpiles, including antipersonnel land mines, drones, portable anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles.

In a statement, the Pentagon said Monday that the shipment was part of a surge in security aid as Ukraine battles a renewed Russian offensive.

The new support comes amid deep concerns in Ukraine that the incoming Trump administration might cut off military aid to the country. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end the war quickly, though he has not said how. But Vice President-elect JD Vance has outlined a plan that would allow Russia to keep the Ukrainian territory it has seized.

The new tranche will be the single largest that the United States has sent to Ukraine since a $1 billion shipment was announced April 24, just days after the House approved new aid to the country after a monthslong hold.

The arms are provided under what is called presidential "drawdown" authority, which allows the administration to transfer Pentagon stocks to Ukraine instead of waiting the months or years it can take for defense contractors to manufacture weapons under new contracts.

There had been 15 such drawdowns totaling $4.6 billion of arms, ammunition, vehicles and other supplies since the $1 billion package was announced.

Over the same period, the United States has also provided $12.1 billion in funds under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which sends money to Ukraine for its government to purchase weapons directly from the US defense industry.

The provision of land mines to Ukraine has been condemned by a variety of lawmakers and human rights groups because of the indiscriminate nature of those weapons. Anti-tank land mines cannot tell the difference between an enemy tank and a civilian car that drives over it, just as smaller antipersonnel mines are unable to distinguish whether they are being triggered by an enemy soldier or a noncombatant.

The White House authorized sending land mines to Ukraine in September 2023. It initially provided 1,000 155 mm artillery shells it calls RAAMS, for Remote Anti-Armor Mine System, which are fired from howitzers and scatter small mines to destroy enemy tanks.

Weapons such as these are called nonpersistent mines because they are designed to self-destruct after a preset amount of time, though such safety features often fail in combat.

The Pentagon said it has sent more than 70,000 such shells to Ukraine as of Oct. 21.

In April 2023, the Pentagon announced it would send 1960s-era M21 heavy anti-tank mines to Ukraine. Those weapons do not have a self-destruct feature and stay lethal until they are cleared by bomb-disposal experts.

On Nov. 20, the Pentagon announced it would send antipersonnel land mines to Ukraine, despite a June 2022 White House directive banning such transfers.

According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, White House officials told nonprofit organizations Nov. 22 that the United States would send three types of antipersonnel mines to Ukraine, all of which contain self-destruct features.

The first is a 155 mm shell called the Area Denial Artillery Munition that pops open midair and releases 36 small mines, which deploy tripwires once they land on the ground. When the tripwires are disturbed, the mine ejects a small warhead that explodes.

The second version, called the Modular Pack Mine System, can be carried by two soldiers, and dispenses 17 anti-tank mines and four antipersonnel mines into the surrounding area.

The last is called Volcano, which throws a similar mix of antipersonnel and anti-tank mines from cylinders that are mounted on trucks or helicopters to quickly create minefields.

The drawdown announced Monday will provide a second shipment of antipersonnel mines to Ukraine.