How much military aid has the US supplied to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion?

The Pentagon has issued a complete list of the United States’ total military hardware commitment to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion on 24 February. The Kremlin launched what it still terms as a “special military operation” against its neighbouring country in response to the eastern expansion of the NATO military alliance and to carry out what Vladimir Putin described as an attempt to “demilitarize and denazify Ukraine.” After two and a half months of war, Russian forces have been pushed back from Kyiv and are now concentrating their offensive in the Donbas region, which comprises Donetsk and Luhansk, where fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces has been raging for eight years.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which was facilitated with the aid of Belarus, the international community rushed to provide arms, munitions and tactical support to the government of Volodomir Zelenskyy. Several nations pledged support and a steady stream of defence systems and weapons flowed in, helping Ukraine’s armed forces to mount a successful defence of Kyiv and push Russian forces back from areas surrounding the capital. Senior Russian officers had predicted a swift victory but supply and logistical issues set in early in the invasion and morale among conscripted troops fell as Ukraine’s military proved to be more than a match for a statistically much larger and better-equipped force.

Russian war aims shift after failed Kyiv offensive

Putin’s aim is now to seize control of the Donbas region and other swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine, including all of Ukraine’s Black Sea access points, and link these with Crimea, which was illegally annexed by the Kremlin in 2014. As such, Russian forces have concentrated their assaults on two fronts: in the south, where repeated ground assaults toward Odesa have been broken up, and southwards from Izyum, although fierce resistance there has stalled the invading forces and a successful Ukrainian counter-attack has also pushed Russian troops away from Kharkiv. Russian forces hold the Black Sea port city of Kherson and Mariupol’s defiance has now been largely suppressed, with the majority of the city on the north coast of the Sea of Azov now under Russian control.

Ukraine’s foreign minister targets complete liberation

Ukraine’s aim remains the same as it has been since 24 February: to push the invading Russian forces back to areas that were under the control of the Kremlin on the day of the invasion and demand reparations. Now though Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, buoyed by successful Ukrainian counter-offensives, has said that the defenders’ initial definition of victory has now shifted.

“Now if we are strong enough on the military front and we win the battle for Donbas, which will be crucial for the following dynamics of the war, of course the victory for us in this war will be the liberation of the rest of our territories,” Kuleba told the Financial Times.

For Ukraine to sustain its momentum, the continued supply of weapons and defensive systems will be crucial. So far, Ukraine has received billions of dollars’ worth of military aid from EU and NATO countries and the US, but Ukrainian forces will need plenty more if Kuleba’s assertion that Russia can be thrown out of Donbas is to be achieved.

The US Congress passed another $40 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine on 10 May and has provided $3.8 billion in military assistance since Russia launched its invasion. On the day Congress passed its latest aid package, the Department of Defense issued a complete list of all hardware supplied to Ukraine’s armed forces since 24 February: