Pentagon moves to provide additional military aid to Ukraine, citing progress on reforms – CNN

That certification that Kiev was making progress in countering corruption, improving transparency and boosting civilian oversight was required by law to permit the assistance package moving forward. The package is the second half of the $250 million in Ukraine Security Assistance that was appropriated by Congress in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.

A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment Wednesday on the assistance, citing a department policy of not commenting on arms packages that are under congressional review.

The new assistance package includes mobile radar systems designed to detect and track incoming artillery and rocket fire, dozens of ambulances, secure communications equipment, including 100 "tactical tablets" and the two patrol boats, the latter of which is seen as particularly important given Ukraine's tensions with Russia in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

In 2018, Russian forces seized three Ukrainian vessels and captured 24 Ukrainian sailors following a clash in the Kerch Strait which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and is the sole access route for ships travelling to Ukraine's eastern port cities.

The Sea of Azov has a maximum depth of only 14 meters and is therefore much too shallow for most warships to operate, making it the ideal environment for the Mark VI-type patrol boats to operate in.

Russia seized and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and tensions between Kiev and Moscow in the region remain high. Ukraine's government accused Russia Wednesday of continuing to act aggressively in the region during a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

"The representative of Ukraine noted that Russia hinders navigation in the Azov-Black Sea region under contrived pretexts, which is a gross violation of international maritime law. Intensive militarization of the Sea of Azov continues," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

"Such a destructive policy of the Russian Federation has negative consequences not only for Ukraine and other countries of the Black Sea basin, but also for the wider region," the statement added.

The articles of impeachment said the Trump administration blocked the previous aid tranche to Ukraine in an effort to get Kiev to investigate an energy company linked to the Biden family. Trump's attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, his potential political rival, were at the center of the impeachment trial.

Trump administration officials at times cited corruption in Ukraine as justification for freezing the aid, though that justification was undermined by the Pentagon's certification at the time that Kiev was making progress in combating corruption.

The GAO said that the White House budget office violated the Impoundment Control Act, a 1974 law that limits the White House from withholding funds that Congress has appropriated.

Almost all of the past US ambassadors to Ukraine on Tuesday urged against Ukraine being used as a cudgel in domestic politics, particularly during an election year.

"We have worked over the years to build and strengthen the US-Ukrainian strategic partnership established in 1996," wrote retired Ambassadors Roman Popadiuk, Steven Pifer, Carlos Pascual, John Herbst, Bill Taylor, John Tefft and Marie Yovanovitch.

The statement did not specifically say the efforts to which they were referring.

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Pentagon moves to provide additional military aid to Ukraine, citing progress on reforms - CNN