CNN: US military aid package for Ukraine includes Switchblade missiles

The Switchblade guided missiles of the American company AeroVironment were included in the package of military assistance provided to Kiev by Washington, CNN reports.

According to sources of the TV company, the so-called loitering ammunition was previously included in the list of weapons that Ukraine requested from the United States following consultations held over the weekend, TASS reports.

Meanwhile, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a briefing that Washington cannot transfer MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, because this could be perceived as an escalation, RBC notes.

Earlier, on March 16, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the United States to provide S-300s and other air defense systems to Ukraine instead of providing a no-fly zone over its territory.

Recall that on February 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), and on February 24 he made an emergency appeal to the Russians and announced a special military operation in Donbass. In his speech, he stated that “circumstances require decisive action from Russia” and stressed that “Russia will not allow Ukraine to have nuclear weapons.”

In response to Russia’s actions, Western countries (USA, Canada, European Union, Great Britain, Japan) announced new, tougher sanctions against the Russian Federation, including financial and economic ones.

Thus, in particular, Russian banks fell under the sanctions, including Sberbank, VTB, Novikombank, FC Otkritie and Sovcombank, and for a number of state-owned companies it was difficult to attract foreign capital.

Later, the EU countries and the United States agreed to disconnect Russian banks that fell under sanctions from the international system of interbank transactions and information exchange SWIFT. In addition, it was decided to freeze the assets of the Bank of Russia, which will create difficulties for its use of international reserves. EU countries also pledged to take steps to limit the sale of citizenship — the so-called “golden passports” that allow wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government to become citizens of EU states and gain access to their financial systems. In addition, the European Union, the United States, Canada and a number of other countries have closed the sky for Russian aircraft.

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