U.S. preparing another defense aid package for Ukraine - Sullivan

Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, says Washington is preparing a new defense assistance package for Ukraine, which will be announced in the coming days.

He spoke at the White House on Monday, Ukrinform's own correspondent reports.

"We are going to have another what we call PDA - Presidential Drawdown Authority package - just in the coming days because we're trying to really accelerate the tempo of the deliveries," Sullivan said.

He noted that the several-month delay in aid to Ukraine due to protracted Congressional discussions created a "hole" with arms supplies, so now the administration is trying to help Ukraine get out of it as soon as possible.

When asked if this implied that packages to Ukraine would now be sent on a weekly basis, Sullivan said the process would at least be described as intensive.

He also said that the U.S. administration is in close contact with the Ukrainian side. According to Sullivan, the latest such conversation took place earlier today, involving Jake Sullivan himself, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Charles Brown on the U.S. side and President’s Office chief Andriy Yermak, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, and Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi on Ukraine’s end.

"We spoke for 90 minutes. It was a detailed conversation about the situation on the front about the capabilities that they are most in need of," Sullivan said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on Monday, the U.S. State Department expressed expectation that Russia would try to pursue offensive efforts in the east of Ukraine, without being able to make any serious breakthroughs.