The U.S. has reportedly delivered three military loads to Ukraine in the past two weeks amid growing international demands that Russia declare its troops building on the border with its neighbor.
Moscow has sounded the alarm by sending armed forces to the northern and eastern borders of Ukraine as well as to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Amid fears that the Kremlin wants to escalate the seven-year-old conflict between the countries, The Insider investigation website reported that there were the highest number of Russian troops on the border since the eastern Ukraine conflict began seven years ago.
Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO tweeted on Tuesday that he had contacted President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine “to express serious concern” about Russian military activity in and around the country, as well as “ongoing ceasefire violations.”
Zelenskiy, in turn, used the tension to urge NATO to support a membership action plan for Ukraine, saying that this move would be a real signal for Russia.
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Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Moscow should announce if it was conducting military exercises, as usual. “We call on Russia to make clear its intentions on what they are doing with this series of forces along the border,” he said.
Over the past two weeks, US military equipment has arrived in Ukraine. On March 25, 350 tons of cargo were delivered by ship to Odessa Ocean Glory. The shipment included 35 Humvee sport utility vehicles, reports the agency Ukrinform.
Local news outlets reported further deliveries. According to the Odessa newspaper, a US C-17A Globemaster III military transport plane flew from the US base in Ramstein, Germany, to Kiev. Dumskaya.
Two days later, another C-17A Globemaster III, capable of transporting 102 troops and 77 tons of cargo, landed in the western city of Lviv, the newspaper reported.
In early March, the Department of Defense announced that in the fiscal year 2021, the U.S. would provide $ 125 million in military aid to Kiev to help preserve its territorial integrity, work better with NATO, and ‘itself more effective against To defend Russian aggression ‘.
A further $ 150 million will be provided this financial year, depending on the effectiveness of the Ukrainian defense reforms required by the National Defense Authorization Act.
The funding comes when the Ukrainian army announced that it would conduct military exercises with at least five NATO countries in an operation called Cossack Mace this year. Other exercises involving the US, called Rapid Trident and Sea Breeze, are planned, reports Unian.
Some observers have suggested that Russia’s military build-up is a conspiracy to intimidate Zelenskiy and test the Biden government’s decision.
The Atlantic Council’s think tank added that a military campaign could increase support for President Vladimir Putin, whose popularity fell ahead of Russia’s parliamentary elections in September.
The brainstorming session also pointed to a intensification of propaganda attacks on Kiev by the Kremlin-controlled media, in which they accused the Ukrainian government of planning its own offensive.
“It is now time for Washington to provide additional leadership by announcing conditional sanctions that will be imposed on Russia if it escalates in Ukraine,” said John Herbst, director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.
Newsweek contacted the U.S. Department of Defense for comment.