Washington’s new arms for Ukraine

Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky made a desperate appeal for help against Russia to the US Congress on Wednesday, and within hours of the speech, President Joe Biden responded by promising $1 billion in new weapons to fight "war criminal" Vladimir Putin's invading army. The new arms and equipment includes:

S-300 missile defense: Ukraine has had the ability to shoot down Russian aircraft and cruise missiles at relatively close quarters. Washington is arranging for it to acquire systems that can strike attacking aircraft much further away. According to a military source, the systems are the Soviet/Russian-made S-300, which like the US-made Patriot system, is a fully automated, ground-based radar-and-missile launcher unit that can detect, track and fire at multiple incoming aerial threats at long distances.

'Kamikaze drones': Washington will send Ukraine 100 Switchblade drones, essentially camera-equipped, remote-controlled flying bombs that can be directed by an operator to find and then, when ready, plunge onto a target, exploding on contact. Dubbed "kamikaze drones," Switchblades can extend the range of attack on Russian vehicles and units to beyond the sight of the user.

'Saint Javelin': Western allies have already provided the Ukrainian army with some 17,000 lightweight, shoulder-launched self-guided missiles which have become the weapon of choice in the ground war.Among those, the US-made Javelin, with dual charges designed to defeat Russian tanks' anti-missile defenses, has become legendary in its effectiveness. Biden said Washington will send 2,000 more javelin missiles.

Anti-aircraft Stingers: The United States is also giving 800 more Stingers, which are shoulder-mounted infrared anti-aircraft missiles. Ukrainians have used them effectively against Russian helicopters and slower, lower-flying fixed-wing attack aircraft.

Guns, ammunition, body armor: The new US arms provisions also include 7,000 other anti-armor weapons, thousands of machine guns, rifles, and grenade launchers, 20 million rounds of small arms ammunition fitting both Russian and Nato standards, and 25,000 sets of body armor and helmets.