KYIV, Sept 16 – The United States is working on a substantial aid package for Ukraine, bringing together a range of different options that it plans to announce by the end of this month, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.

"I meet with my team every single day to think about what are the implements, the tools we need to put into place to help stabilize that front and make sure that those grinding advances by the Russians are met with stiff resistance and also that we deny Russia the capacity to really have any kind of breakthrough that would lead to them gaining strategically from their continued push in the east," Sullivan said at the 20th annual YES meeting in Kyiv on September 13-14, organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.

He recalled that in April this year, before the additional U.S. funding package for Ukraine was passed, there was widespread concern that the front line might collapse, but in the months since, Ukraine’s defenses have become more robust in many critical places, and Ukraine has also taken bold and decisive steps in the war, moving forward.

Sullivan noted that it is not a question of political will, but a question of resolving the difficult and complex logistical and operational issues of actually getting the necessary weapons to the front.

He said the United States is literally taking 155mm shells off the assembly line and getting them to the front lines as fast as we can.

As another example of support, he cited the difficult-to-implement decision to redirect to Ukraine all Patriot missiles that were supposed to be delivered to partners and allies in the next 12 months.

"I said, take every single one of those missiles, every one, and send them to Ukraine... And if you look at the cost of that, it's a lot of money, the quantity, the scope, and the intensity of those deliveries since the beginning of the war. I am quite proud of what we have done, but as President Zelenskyy said on the stage, given what Ukraine is up against, we've got to do more and we've got to do better, and I agree with that," the adviser to President Biden said. (nr/ez)