US may provide military aid to Ukraine through Greece

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has addressed Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis with a proposal to donate or sell weapons to Ukraine in exchange for US$200 million in US aid.

Source: Kathimerini, a newspaper in Greece; Suspilne, a Ukrainian public broadcaster

Details: In his official letter, Blinken writes that the United States is interested in defence assets that Greece could transfer or sell to Ukraine.

"If these assets are of interest to Ukraine, and pending the US government's assessment of their status and value, we can explore the possibility of possible additional funding of up to US$200 million for the Greek Armed Forces."

Details: At the same time, in his statement, Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis spoke of an "important day" for Greece's national defence and diplomacy. Furthermore, he emphasised that the letter from US Secretary of State Blinken underscores and reinforces the depth of Greek-American relations.

The US Department of State has previously authorised the sale of US$8.6 billion worth of US-made F-35 fighter jets and related equipment to Greece. According to a statement by the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which is responsible for supplying military equipment and weapons abroad under intergovernmental contracts, the deal involves the purchase of up to 40 fighter jets, 42 engines, guidance systems, spare parts and other equipment. The agency noted that delivering this equipment would not harm US combat readiness and "will not change the basic military balance" in the region.

The US administration has notified Congress of this decision. The legislature has 30 days to review the potential deal and possibly block it.

The letter also states that the process of transferring US$30 million in defence procurement funds from the United States to Greece through the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) procedure to encourage critical support for Ukraine was completed on 27 September 2022.

Greek National Defence Minister Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos stressed that Athens had sent humanitarian aid and proposed military assistance to Ukraine from the very first day of the war.

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