WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden told Ukraine’s president Wednesday the U.S. will send more aid to the country, which U.S. officials said will include small drones and armored Humvees.
The White House said in a statement that Biden delivered the news in a call to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, while expressing concern that Russian-backed separatists are violating cease-fire agreements in eastern Ukraine and keeping out international monitors.
U.S. officials, speaking on a condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the aid on the record, said the aid includes some small Raven drones systems, which can be launched by hand. The U.S. will also send 30 heavily armored Humvees and 200 other regular Humvees, as well as radios, counter-mortar radars and other equipment. All of the aid is nonlethal, and the drones are not armed.
The drones and other equipment, not including the Humvees, are worth about $75 million. It’s not clear how many drones would be sent or what the Humvees cost.