U.S. Doubles Down Efforts to Assist Ukraine, While Choking Off Russia's Military Supply Chains

As Putin's war in Ukraine grinds on toward its 200th day, the White House doubles down its efforts to assist Ukraine, while choking off Russia's military supply chains. and making it more difficult for Moscow to resupply its forces fighting in the neighboring country, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

The Biden administration on Thursday has imposed new sanctions on several Iranian companies, due to their involvement in the production and transfer of drones to Russia.

The White House believes that Moscow took its first delivery of Iranian drones in late August. And early this week, a declassified American intelligence report said Moscow was buying artillery shells and rockets from North Korea.

American officials say that Russia’s reliance on such pariah states that operate outside the system of international trade was a sign of desperation.

The measures by the U.S. Treasury on Thursday targeted Safiran Airport Services, a Tehran-based air transportation service provider, as well as three other firms and one individual that it said were involved in the manufacturing of unmanned aerial vehicles.

“The United States is committed to strictly enforcing our sanctions against both Russia and Iran and holding accountable Iran and those supporting Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” Treasury official Brian Nelson said in a statement.

The move came as President Biden spoke with counterparts from Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Romania, Poland, the UK, as well as NATO Secretary General, and EU representatives to discuss ongoing support for Ukraine.

Biden underscored "continued international support for Ukraine, including through the ongoing provision of security and economic assistance and the sustained imposition of costs on Russia to hold the Kremlin accountable for its aggression,” according to a White House readout of the call.

As TURAN reported yesterday, the U.S. intends to send another $2 billion in military support to Ukraine and 18 nearby countries at risk of Russian attack.

The Pentagon on Thursday announced another package of weapons to Ukraine worth up to $675 million, a pledge made as he met with allies working to keep Ukraine equipped “over the long haul” amid the Russian invasion.

A list released by the Pentagon detailed the contents of the package, including:

- four 105mm Howitzers and 36,000 accompanying artillery rounds

- ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS)

- additional High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARM)

- 100 Humvees

- 50 armored ambulances

- anti-tank systems

- small arms 

Both the Pentagon and State Department also announced that the Biden administration has informed Congress of its “intent to make a further $2.2 billion available in long-term investments under Foreign Military Financing to bolster the security of Ukraine and 18 of its neighbors. Roughly half of that funding will go toward Ukrainian security and the other half split between Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

During his Thursday video call with allies, Biden and counterpart also discussed Russia's weaponization of energy and the need for further coordination to secure sustainable and affordable energy supplies for Europe, according to the White House.

That comes as the Biden Administration officials say they are "closely monitoring" an escalating energy crisis in Europe afte Gazprom halted flows through the vital Nord Stream 1 pipeline indefinitely, claiming it had found an oil leak in a turbine.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.