Politico: US will support allies in Eastern Europe with arms grants

Washington has decided to move from one-time arms supplies to Ukraine to long-term equipment of Eastern European countries that are NATO allies. The US will give them grants to buy weapons from American defense manufacturing companies.

According to the publication Politicothe new policy should allay fears in the Baltic states, which feel vulnerable after handing over a lot of weapons to Kyiv.

Other Eastern European countries also want to get rid of old Russian weapons, or have already transferred most of them to Ukraine.

“Now there is a bigger issue that will become the main one over the next three to five years, namely the protection of NATO and NATO countries from Russia, which does not back down,” said Seth Jones, director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He stressed that the White House knows that many countries of the alliance are not able to defend themselves.

Until now, the vast majority of American aid to Ukraine has been ammunition and equipment from American warehouses. The publication claims that since the beginning of the SVO, about one million artillery shells, dozens of howitzers and rocket launchers have reached the front line.

Formerly US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announcedthat Ukraine will receive weapons worth 675 million dollars. He also announced the allocation of two billion dollars to Kyiv and 18 neighboring countries.