April 10, 2024 (EIRNS)—The State Department announced yesterday an “emergency” sale of $138 million worth of spare parts for the HAWK anti-aircraft systems that have already been supplied to the Kiev regime. The announcement said that Ukraine has an urgent need for the maintenance support to keep the missile system running. “The Secretary of State has determined and provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the government of Ukraine of the above defense articles and services in the national security interests of the United States, thereby waiving the congressional review requirements,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a press release.
At the same time, the Pentagon said that it would be sending weapons and munitions to Ukraine seized from smugglers who were allegedly taking them to the Houthis in Yemen. The weapons include 5,000 Kalashnikov rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, along with a half-million rounds of ammunition. They were seized from four “stateless vessels” between 2021 and 2023 and made available for transfer to Ukraine through a Justice Department civil forfeiture program targeting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to U.S. Central Command, reported the Washington Post.
