New US $325 million weapons package could signal Ukraine counteroffensive

 The US is sending Ukraine about $325 million in additional military aid, including an enormous amount of artillery rounds and ammunition as the launch of the spring offensive against Russian forces approaches, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The US has declined to say exactly how much munitions will be sent to Ukraine, but the latest package resembles other recent deliveries, which included rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, and howitzers, as well as an array of other missiles and anti-tank ammunition. It will all be pulled from Pentagon stocks, so it can go quickly to the front lines.

A Ukrainian official warned on Monday that it is only a matter of time before his country is militarily prepared to begin its counteroffensive. Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, told The Associated Press in an interview in Kyiv that the offensive against Russian troops will start when Ukraine's troops are ready. And he said deliveries of armoured vehicles and ammunition are key to the launch.

The recent leak of classified information included a number of documents detailing the timeline for weapon deliveries to Ukraine and previously unreleased assessments about how quickly the Ukrainian military could run out of critical air-defence munitions. They included projections that missile stocks could be exhausted as soon as late this month or May, which would provide greater opportunities for devastating Russian air and artillery strikes.

Danilov echoed other Ukrainian leaders who said they didn't see the leak as gravely damaging future offensives, stressing that Ukraine doesn't share highly sensitive information with anyone.

The announcement of the new US aid comes