The U.S. Army has awarded a Florida-based company a contract worth just over $118 million to supply additional German-made Gepard self-propelled 35mm anti-aircraft guns to the Ukrainian military. The Gepards in question look to be ex-Dutch variants that were then sold to Jordan around a decade ago. It is unclear how many Gepards are being purchased for Ukraine through the U.S. Army contract or when they might arrive in that country. Germany has already supplied dozens of these vehicles to Ukraine's armed forces, which has been using them to good effect, especially against incoming Russian cruise missiles and drones.
Meanwhile, following recent unrest in northern Kosovo which began last week and intensified on Monday, NATO announced on Tuesday its decision to send 700 additional personnel to bolster its peacekeeping mission in the country. The extra troops are drawn from an operational reserve force for the Western Balkans, while an unspecified number of additional reserve force personnel from another battalion have also been put on a heightened state of readiness to be available to intervene if necessary. You can read about why the troops have been sent, and how the violence speaks to broader tensions in the Balkans as an extension of the war in Ukraine, in our explainer here.
We are also continuing our rolling coverage of the conflict in Ukraine as it develops, which can be found at The War Zone. You can also check out highlights of all our coverage from the last week below.
-- Oliver Parken
The War Zone |
