The latest aid, which brings the total aid tally since Russian forces invaded in February to more than $2.5 billion, includes artillery systems, artillery rounds and armored personnel carriers, Biden said in a statement after a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The new security assistance package – first reported by Reuters on Tuesday – will be funded using Presidential Drawdown Authority, or PDA, in which the president can authorize the transfer of articles and services from U.S. stocks without congressional approval in response to an emergency. Read full story

Zelenskiy has been pleading with U.S. and European leaders to provide heavier arms and equipment as his country faces an invasion that has killed thousands and displaced millions.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” to destroy Ukraine’s military capabilities and capture what it views as dangerous nationalists, but Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression.

(Reporting by Mike Stone and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Will Dunham)