The United States has announced a new military aid package for Ukraine amid warnings that the move would further deepen the conflict between Kiev and Moscow.
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On Wednesday, the US Defense Department announced to supply weapons worth of $300 million to Ukraine, including air defense systems and tens of millions of rounds of ammunition, AFP reported.
The Pentagon said the latest shipments will bring the total value of American military aid to Ukraine since February 2022 to $37.6 billion.
"The United States will continue to work with its allies and partners to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer-term security assistance requirements," the Pentagon said in a statement.
But the Biden administration warned Ukraine that US weaponry should not be used to attack within Russia.
"We have been very clear with the Ukrainians privately -- we've certainly been clear publicly -- that we do not support attacks inside Russia. We do not enable and we do not encourage attacks inside Russia," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday.
Kirby on Wednesday said the United States has laid out its ground rules to Ukraine.
"We don't tell them where to strike. We don't tell them where not to strike," he said. "Ultimately, President (Volodymyr) Zelensky and his military commanders decide what they're going to do."
However, "we certainly don't want to see attacks inside Russia that are being propagated, that are being conducted, using US-supplied equipment."
The United States and its allies have been pouring weapons worth tens of billions of dollars and other aid into Ukraine since the start of its conflict with Russia, despite Moscow's repeated warnings.
In total, the Biden administration has committed more than $100 billion to the so-called “Project Ukraine.”
Russia has warned time and again that the continued supply of Western arms to Ukraine will only serve to prolong the war and add to the suffering of the Ukrainian people.
Russia began what it described as a "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 as part of a national security measure against the persisting eastern advance of the US-led NATO military alliance.
Moscow also said the military operation was aimed at defending the pro-Russia population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk against persecution by Kiev, and also to "de-Nazify" Ukraine.
