US sending 580 Phoenix Ghost drones to Ukraine, fueling flames of war

The United States is set to donate 580 Phoenix Ghost kamikaze drones to Ukraine, deepening the country’s involvement in the simmering war in defiance of repeated warnings by Moscow.

The US Defense Department on Tuesday announced the additional security package valued at $270 million, including the Phoenix Ghost drones, additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, and ammunition.

The latest package has been drawn both from existing US military stocks and from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative fund, a senior defense official was quoted as saying during the briefing at the Pentagon. 

"The Ukrainians have been making excellent use of the Phoenix Ghost system," the official said. “And with the Phoenix Ghost system, what we'll be able to do is ensure steady deliveries of this capability starting in August to ensure that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have a continual supply of this capability.”

The Phoenix Ghost is said to possess capabilities similar to AeroVironment’s Switchblade drone, but its full potential remains undisclosed, according to Air Force Magazine.

The 16th Presidential Drawdown, which raised $175 million, has taken the total military assistance the US has provided to Ukraine since Joe Biden took office to $8.2 billion.

Moscow has repeatedly warned that the flow of weapons to Kiev will only prolong the conflict.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in late February, following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements and Moscow’s recognition of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said one of the goals of what he called a “special military operation” was to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.

Putin has warned that his country could expand the scope of its ongoing military operation in Ukraine if the West ramps up its weapons supplies to the former Soviet republic.

More western arms supplies to Ukraine risks ‘further destabilization’: Putin

ussian President Vladimir Putin has warned the leaders of France and Germany against ramping up arms supplies to Ukraine, saying they could further destabilize the situation in the former Soviet state.

'EU continues to invest in hostilities'

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has warned that the European Union’s (EU) decision to allocate more funds for the supply of weaponry to Ukraine shows how completely unwilling it is to support a diplomatic settlement in the war-ravaged country.

The EU's decision to allocate another 500 million Euros for the supply of weaponry shows any attempt to achieve victory on the battlefield is a “road to the abyss” for both Kiev and Brussels, she said Monday.

"By supplying arms and military equipment to Ukrainians, the EU continues to invest in further hostilities. And at the same time, it hypocritically publicly declares that it allegedly extended the 'olive branch of the world' to Russia,” Zakharova said in a statement.

"For a little over a year of the existence of the European Peace Facility, which, given its use for the supply of weapons, it is more correct to call a 'war facility,' 2.5 billion euros have already been spent on arming Ukraine — almost half of its budget calculated until 2027. So the EU sponsors should bear the same responsibility for the war crimes committed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and nationalist battalions, the killing of civilians, women, the elderly, and children, and the destruction of civilian infrastructure, including bridges, as the Kiev regime.”

She further said that the EU is indifferent to the rampant corruption of the Kiev government.

"For the past five months of non-stop pumping of Ukraine with weapons by the West, they tried to hush up the inconvenient truth about the unprecedented risks of this policy for the internal security of the EU and its citizens. They turned a blind eye to the total corruption of the Kiev authorities. Everything was sacrificed to the ambitions of individual EU leaders and its member states to inflict as much damage to Russia as possible," the spokesperson said. 

Western countries have responded to the Russian military operation by backing Ukraine with cash and weaponry while imposing unprecedented sanctions on Russian officials and entities.

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