The West Announces New Weapons for Kiev, Sanctions on Moscow

The US and its allies will provide Ukraine with billions in weapons and phase out oil imports from Russia.

A meeting of Western leaders resulted in pledges to transfer over $1 billion in arms to Ukraine and a new round of sanctions targeting the Russian economy.

On Sunday, during a call with other leaders from the Group of Seven (G7), UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to send $1.6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, including radars, GPS jamming equipment and night vision. The massive new package from Downing Street is in addition to the $150 million the White House authorized to send to Kiev on Friday. The latest American weapons transfer includes 25,000 artillery rounds and counter-radar jamming equipment.

Almost every NATO member state – and several other allied countries – have assisted Ukraine’s war effort. London is estimated to have contributed about $3 billion in weapons. While the US has added over $3.5 billion, Warsaw claims to have transferred $1.5 billion in arms to its neighbor.

In addition to weapons, the G7 countries, including the US, Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Japan, announced they would be stepping up their effort to crush the Russian economy by phasing out oil imports from Moscow. “We will hit hard at the main artery of Putin’s economy and deny him the revenue he needs to fund his war,” a joint statement by G7 said. It adds, “we will ensure that we do so in a timely and orderly fashion, and in ways that provide time for the world to secure alternative supplies.”

President Joe Biden also announced new unilateral sanctions on Sunday. The US has blacklisted three Russian media outlets – Channel One Russia, Russia-1 and NTV – and 27 executives from the Gazprombank. The White House placed a travel ban on thousands of officials from Russia and Belarus. Additionally, it barred American accounting and consulting firms from doing business in Russia.