Pentagon to send $1 billion in air defense weapons and artillery shells to Ukraine within HOURS after Senate passes $61 billion aid bill for Kyiv

The U.S. will send a massive $1 billion military weapons package - including long-range missiles, ammunition, drones and vehicles - to send the Ukraine now that Congress has approved the funding.

The Senate approved a foreign aid package on Tuesday night that includes $61 billion for the war torn Ukraine. The first tranche of weapons is expected to land in Kyiv within days.

'I'm making sure the shipment start right away,' President Joe Biden said Wednesday shortly after he signed the bill at the White House. 'In the next few hours, literally, a few hours.' 

Within minutes of Biden's announcement, the Pentagon released a detailed list of weapons and equipment headed toward Kyiv. 

The new round of aid comes as it was revealed the Biden administration last month secretly shipped long-range missiles to Ukraine for the first time.

Kyiv has already used the weapon twice to strike deep behind Russian lines, bombing a Russian military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian forces in another occupied area overnight. 

The new missiles give Ukraine nearly double the striking distance - up to 190 miles - that it had with the mid-range version of the weapon that it received from the U.S. last October.

More long-range missiles are expected to be sent as part of the latest aid package. 

Biden approved delivery of the long-range Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, in early March, and the U.S. included a 'significant' number of them in a $300 million aid package announced at the time, a US official said. 

The aid package also includes Bradley fighting vehicles, Stinger air defense munitions, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems, 155 millimeter artillery ammunition, TOW and Javelin anti-tank munitions, demolition weaponry and other weapons that can immediately be put to use on the battlefield, officials told Reuters.

The overall $95 billion foreign aid package, which including billions for Israel and Taiwan, passed the House on Saturday, after months of frustration. 

Speaker Mike Johnson pulled together a bipartisan coalition to approve the legislation as several members of his conservative wing opposed it. 

President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on Wednesday

Ukrainian servicemen of the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, fire a BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system towards Russian troops

Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon said the U.S. has a robust logistical system in place and is 'doing everything we can to be poised to respond quickly' once the bill is signed. 

Ryder said the U.S. has storehouses of military equipment in Europe and can tap into those to get aid into Ukraine within days. 

'We certainly understand and appreciate the urgency and are poised to move quickly,' he said. 

Russia has increased its bombardment of Ukraine in recent weeks. American military officials have described the situation in Ukraine as 'dire.'

CIA Director Bill Burns testified to Congress earlier this month that Ukraine could lose the war by the end of this year without U.S. support.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told lawmakers recently that Russia is making gains, as Ukraine struggles with ammunition shortages.

'We're already seeing things on the battlefield begin to shift a bit in Russia's favor. We are seeing them make incremental gains. We're seeing the Ukrainians be challenged in terms of holding the line,' he said.

Ukrainian soldiers carry shells to fire at Russian positions on the front line - they now will get a multi-billion infusion into their efforts thanks to Congress 

A man removes shards of glass from broken windows of a store damaged by a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine

The latest tranche of weapons will be provided through presidential drawdown authority, or PDA, which pulls systems and munitions from existing U.S. stockpiles and sends them quickly to the war front.

Since Russia's invasion in February 2022, the U.S. has sent more than $44 billion worth of weapons, maintenance, training and spare parts to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the U.K. on Tuesday, pledged an additional $620 million in new military supplies for Ukraine, including long-range missiles and 4 million rounds of ammunition.