Exclusive-Biden readies $725 million arms aid package for Ukraine, sources say

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is preparing a $725 million weapons package for Ukraine, two U.S. officials said on Wednesday, as the outgoing president seeks to bolster the government in Kyiv before leaving office in January.

According to an official familiar with the plan, the Biden administration plans to provide a variety of anti-tank weapons from U.S. stocks to blunt Russia's advancing troops, including land mines, drones, Stinger missiles and ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).

The package is also expected to include cluster munitions, which are typically found in Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rockets fired by HIMARS launchers, according to the notification, seen by Reuters.

The formal notification to Congress of the weapons package could come as soon as Monday, one official said.

The contents and size of the package could change in the coming days ahead of Biden's expected signature.

It marks a steep uptick in size from Biden's recent use of so-called Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which allows the U.S. to draw from current weapons stocks to help allies in an emergency.

Recent PDA announcements have typically ranged from $125 million to $250 million. Biden has an estimated $4 billion to $5 billion in PDA already authorized by Congress that he is expected to use before Republican President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

The United States has not exported landmines in decades, and their use is controversial because of the potential harm to civilians. Although more than 160 countries have signed a treaty banning their use, Kyiv has been asking for them since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in early 2022 and Russian forces have used them on the front lines.

The landmines that would be sent to Ukraine are "non-persistent" landmines, with a power system that lasts for just a short time, leaving the devices non-lethal. This means that - unlike older landmines - they would not remain in the ground, threatening civilians indefinitely.

Russian forces currently are making gains in Ukraine at the fastest rate since the early days of the 2022 invasion, taking an area half the size of London over the past month, analysts and war bloggers said this week.

The United States expects Ukraine to use the mines in its own territory, though it has committed not to use them in areas populated with its own civilians.

Trump on Wednesday tapped Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general who presented him with a plan to end the war in Ukraine, to serve as special envoy for the conflict. Quickly winding down the Ukraine war was one of Trump's central campaign promises, though he has avoided discussing how he would do so.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, additional reporting by Phil Stewart and Mike Stone; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)