U.S. Sends Humvees, Drones To Ukraine — Still No Lethal Weapons

The U.S. government has started a program to send non-lethal aid to Ukraine’s military. The first $75 million package will include Humvees and unarmed drones. Experts continue to fret that lethal weapons could be on the way, and that might antagonize Vladimir Putin into escalating the conflict.

According to the AP, the military aid package will include 30 armored Humvees, and 200 non-armored Humvees, along with hand-launched Raven surveillance drones and radios. Vice President Joe Biden called Ukraine’s President, Petro Poroshenko, on Wednesday to tell him the news.

Although the Humvees and drones should help, they still fall short of the weapons Ukraine has been requesting. The conflict has already taken about 6,000 lives, and news continues to trickle in about tank and heavy arms transfers from Russia, despite the Minsk ceasefire.

Nevertheless, White House officials fear making the situation worse.

The Washington Post reported that press secretary Josh Earnest explained “that bloodshed is something that we’re trying to avoid and de-escalate. So the president is very mindful of the potential risk that’s associated with providing additional lethal military assistance to the Ukrainians.”

According to the Guardian, Congressional members on both sides of the aisle have been calling for the White House to send weapons.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, U.S. Army Europe commander Ben Hodges called for increased aid the Ukraine. He is already preparing a mission for a U.S. battalion to start training Ukrainian forces to fight the insurgents. Although Hodges wouldn’t say the U.S. should send lethal weapons, but Secretary Defense Ashton Carter did.

In a Senate confirmation hearing, Carter said he would consider sending arms.

“The nature of those arms, I can’t say right now. But I incline in the direction of providing them with arms, including, to get to what I’m sure your question is, lethal arms.”

Many wonder if the Minsk ceasefire stands any chance of surviving. The Russian-backed separatists are keeping out international observers. Likewise, Reuters reports that NATO has confirmed that Russia has continued to send more heavy weapons to its insurgents in East Ukraine.

NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg made an official statement calling for Russia to honor the ceasefire.

“We… still see Russian presence and strong support for the separatists in eastern Ukraine. We see the delivery of equipment, forces, training. And so Russia is still in eastern Ukraine. Therefore we call on Russia to withdraw all its forces from eastern Ukraine and to respect the Minsk Agreement.”

President Obama still resists the idea of sending in more than just Humvees and drones, but pressure is continuing to build for the U.S. to do more in Ukraine.

[Image Credit: Getty Images]