Ukraine Announces Agreement To Buy More Javelins From The US

TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 04: A rocket from a shoulder fired Javelin portable anti-tank weapon is launched during an Army fire power demonstration at Range Control, High Range on September 4, 2009 in Townsvi... TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 04: A rocket from a shoulder fired Javelin portable anti-tank weapon is launched during an Army fire power demonstration at Range Control, High Range on September 4, 2009 in Townsville, Australia. The demonstration, especially of the high range weapons, is intended to demonstrate the level and effect of firepower available to the soldiers of 3rd Brigade should they be deployed on operations requiring such. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images) MORE LESS

December 26, 2019 12:14 p.m.

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Ukraine and the US signed an agreement for the delivery of a second round of Javelin anti-tank missiles, Ukrainian Defense Minister Anatoly Petrenko said on Thursday.

The agreement to deliver the advanced missile system comes months into a scandal generated by the Trump administration’s withholding of $391 million in military aid this summer as part of a campaign to extort Ukraine into manufacturing helpful political dirt.

Ukraine received Javelin missiles from the U.S. last year, under a $47 million military aid package for the country. But this time Kyiv is purchasing the missiles directly from Washington, according to a statement from Ukraine’s deputy defense minister Andrey Zagorodnyuk.

The Department of Defense operates a foreign military sales program that allows foreign countries to buy U.S. weapons systems.

Petrenko, the Ukrainian defense minister, said that the contract for the sale was concluded in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Ukraine’s embassy in the U.S. issued a statement thanking the country’s “American partners” for helping reform the country’s defense sector and for providing “an opportunity to one again strengthen the defensive position of Ukraine.

The State Department and Defense Department did not immediately return requests for comment.

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Josh Kovensky is an investigative reporter for Talking Points Memo, based in New York. He previously worked for the Kyiv Post in Ukraine, covering politics, business, and corruption there.

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