WASHINGTON, March 1 - The Pentagon on Monday announced a $125 million military aid package for Ukraine, including two armed patrol boats, to help the country defend its territorial waters, AP reported.

The remaining $150 million in military aid approved by Congress for the 2021 budget year will not be provided until the departments of State and Defense are in a position to certify to Congress that Ukraine has ma de “sufficient progress on key defense reforms this year,” the Pentagon said.

“The Department encourages Ukraine to continue to enact reforms that strengthen civilian control of the military, promote increased transparency and accountability in defense industry and procurement, and modernize its defense sector in other key areas in line with NATO principles and standards,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

The announcement comes days after Ukraine said it would seek closer military cooperation with the U.S. in order to be able to defend its territories from a Moscow-backed separatist insurgency in Donbas.

Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, said Friday Ukraine will also ask the U.S. to get involved in peace negotiations to end the armed conflict in Donbas.

The talks in the Normandy Format, which includes Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia, were postponed for more than a year. Kyiv has been trying to activate them, but Moscow had refused.

Ukraine has been locked in a costly struggle with Russia, which annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and cast its support behind pro-Moscow insurgents in eastern Ukraine. The conflict, now in its seventh year, has killed more than 14,000 people and devastated Ukraine’s industrial heartland.

In addition to the two Mark VI patrol boats, the Pentagon said it is providing radars for countering artillery; support for satellite imagery and analysis capability; and equipment to support military medical treatment and combat evacuation procedures.

“This action reaffirms the U.S. commitment to providing defensive lethal weapons to enable Ukraine to more effectively defend itself against Russian aggression,” the Pentagon said. (ap/ez)