New $322 Million US Arms Deal Strengthens Ukraine's Defenses

The United States announced yesterday, Wednesday, July 23, a $322 million arms deal for Ukraine, aimed at enhancing its air defense capabilities and upgrading its fleet of armored combat vehicles.

The deal includes two main components:

The sale of "Hawk" air defense systems and maintenance worth $172 million,

As well as the sale of armored combat vehicles of the "Bradley" model with maintenance services worth $150 million, according to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

The agency confirmed that equipping Ukraine with these defense systems will contribute to enhancing its ability to confront current and future threats by improving self-defense and regional security missions with advanced air defense capabilities.

The "Bradley" vehicles and their maintenance will also help meet Ukraine's urgent maintenance needs to enhance local maintenance capabilities, ensuring high operational rates for the systems and vehicles previously provided by the United States.

The US State Department approved the deal, while the Defense Security Cooperation Agency provided the necessary documents to the US Congress, which will review and approve the deal.

This announcement comes after a temporary halt in July to the delivery of some types of weapons to Kyiv, despite the escalation of Russian attacks using missiles and drones on Ukrainian territory.

The United States had previously signed a $311 million deal in May to provide training and spare parts for F-16 fighter jets.

It is worth noting that President Joe Biden's administration has pledged over $65 billion in military aid to Ukraine, while former President Donald Trump, who returned to office in January 2025, followed a different approach and has not announced any new aid packages for Kyiv so far.

The Ukrainian-Russian crisis, which began with the wide-scale Russian invasion in 2022, continues amid escalating tensions and no real signs of conflict resolution, with ongoing Western military support for Kyiv.