A cargo of more than 60 Bradley Fighting Vehicles left South Carolina for Ukraine last week as part of the latest $2.5 billion military aid package the Biden administration announced earlier this month.
The armored vehicle, named after World War II General Omar Bradley, is operated by three crew members and can carry up to seven infantrymen across the battlefield.
It is equipped with a 25mm automatic cannon, as well as a 7.62 coaxial machine gun and an anti-tank missile launcher.
Bradley Fighting Vehicles are loaded into the ARC Integrity at the main shipping dock in North Charleston, South Carolina.
(U.S. Transportation Command photo by Oz Suguitan)
Bradley Fighting Vehicles in South Carolina on January 25 before leaving for Ukraine.
(U.S. Transportation Command photo by Oz Suguitan)
“The Bradley is a very powerful vehicle that we are providing to the Ukrainians,” Army Lt. Col. Rebecca D’Angelo, commander of the 841st Transportation Battalion that oversees the transportation, said Monday.
“Hopefully this will enhance their capabilities to provide a battlefield breakthrough and win back lost ground, by having equipment that matches or exceeds what the Russians have.”
UKRAINE-RUSSIA WAR: GERMANY AGREES TO SEND 2 LEOPARD 2 TANK BATTALIONS AFTER HEAVY PRESSURE
After months of resistance, the Biden administration agreed to send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine last week.
Germany, the UK and other allied partners also announced that they would send their own tanks to help defend against invasion by Russia.
FILE PHOTO: A US Army M1A1 Abrams tank fires during the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup Crystal Arrow 2021 military exercise in Adazi, Latvia, March 26, 2021.
(REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File photo)
The United States has also sent 90 Stryker combat vehicles, some 1,700 Humvees, dozens of mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles and other armored vehicles.
Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Last week he renewed calls for the United States and Germany to send fighter jets to Ukraine.
DONETSK, UKRAINE – JANUARY 7: Ukrainian soldiers work with pion artillery in the northern direction of the Donbass front as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues in Donetsk, Ukraine on January 7, 2023.
(Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Meanwhile, Russia is increasingly wary of US and European support for Ukraine.
“There are constant statements from European capitals and from Washington that sending various weapons systems to Ukraine, including tanks, in no way signifies the involvement of these countries or the alliance in the hostilities in Ukraine,” he said last week. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to Reuters.
“We categorically disagree with this, and in Moscow, everything that the alliance and the capitals that I mentioned are doing is seen as direct participation in the conflict.”
Fox News’ Caitlin McFall contributed to this report.
