US to send Stinger missiles to Ukraine in new $125M package

Military assistance to be 10th tranche of equipment for Ukraine since Biden signed national security supplemental

WASHINGTON:

The United States on Friday announced a new $125 million military aid package for Ukraine that would include Stinger missiles, artillery ammunition, and anti-armor systems.

The military assistance would be the tenth tranche of equipment for Ukraine since President Joe Biden signed a national security supplemental in April, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters in a telephonic briefing.

Previously, a Russian missile struck a supermarket in the Ukrainian town of Kostiantynivka in the front-line Donetsk region on August 9, killing at least 14 people and injuring 43 others, Ukrainian officials said.

Heavy black smoke clouds rose from the destroyed building in images and videos posted by officials. The interior minister later said the blaze was put out.

"Russian terrorists hit an ordinary supermarket and a post office. There are people under the rubble," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on X. Emergency services continued working out the rubble looking for survivors, he added.

Kostiantynivka lies just about 13 kilometers from the active combat line in Ukraine's east. Ukrainian government-held parts of the Donetsk region regularly come under Russian shelling and air strikes.

This week Russia has been fighting what it says is an armored cross-border assault by Ukrainian troops in its Kursk region. The Kyiv military has not commented on that operation yet.