The United States will give Ukraine $6 billion to purchase military hardware directly from American defense companies, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III announced on Friday, expressing confidence that many of the weapons and munitions the country most needs will soon arrive.
“This is the largest security assistance package that we’ve committed to date,” Mr. Austin told reporters at the Pentagon. It will include air-defense missiles and artillery ammunition among other offensive and defensive weaponry, he said.
Mr. Austin and Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke after a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a consortium of approximately 50 nations that includes all NATO members, several of the United States’ major non-NATO allies and other countries that have provided military and humanitarian aid to Kyiv.
This was the 21st such monthly meeting of the group since it was formed two years ago at a U.S. air base in Ramstein, Germany, and the first to be held since President Biden signed a long-stalled foreign aid package that includes $60.8 billion for Ukraine.
Mr. Austin acknowledged that the time needed to build some of the weapons varied, depending on several factors.
“You can rest assured that we’re going to move as fast as we can to get them the capability as fast as industry can produce,” he said. “But we will move at the speed of industry.”