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U.S. NEWS Saturday 2 July 2022
U.S. announces $820M in Ukraine aid, including missile systems

By NOMAAN MERCHANT ington. A senior defense of-
Associated Press ficial told reporters the NA-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The SAMS are intended to help
U.S. announced on Friday Ukraine transition away
that it will provide Ukraine from using Soviet-era air
with $820 million in new mili- defense systems that be-
tary aid, including new sur- sides being well known to
face-to-air missile systems the Russians have to be re-
and counter-artillery ra- paired with spare parts that
dars to respond to Russia's are hard to procure. The
heavy reliance on long- official briefed reporters on
range strikes in the war. condition of anonymity to
Russia in recent days has discuss military assessments.
launched dozens of missiles The Pentagon will also pro-
across Ukraine and pinned vide the Ukrainians with
down Ukrainian forces with up to 150,000 rounds of
continuous fire for some- 155-millimeter artillery am-
times hours at a time. munition. Given the high
Ukraine's leaders have pub- usage of artillery on both
licly called on Western allies sides, it's unclear how long
to quickly send more am- those new rounds would
munition and advanced U.S. Secretary for Defense Lloyd J. Austin III arrives for a meeting of NATO defense ministers at last. The official declined to
systems that will help them NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, June 16, 2022. say how many estimated
narrow the gap in equip- Associated Press rounds Ukraine and Russia
ment and manpower. are firing daily.
All told, the U.S. has com- "We are going to support posed over the invasion. announced Friday will take And the Pentagon will also
mitted more than $8.8 bil- Ukraine as long as it takes," The U.S. is giving Ukrainians weeks or months to reach buy four counter-artillery ra-
lion in weapons and military President Joe Biden said "the capacity" so that "they Ukraine. dars for Ukraine. Those new
training to Ukraine, whose this week at a press confer- can continue to resist the As part of the new pack- purchases, funded by the
leaders have sought more ence during the NATO sum- Russian aggression," Biden age, the U.S. will purchase Pentagon's Ukraine Secu-
help from Western allies to mit in Madrid. He argued said. "And so I don't know two systems known as NA- rity Assistance Initiative, re-
repel larger and heavily that Russia had already suf- how it's going to end, but SAMS, a Norwegian-devel- quire weeks at a minimum
equipped Russian forces. fered a blow to its interna- it will not end with a Rus- oped anti-aircraft system for defense companies to
About $7 billion of that aid tional standing and major sian defeat of Ukraine in that is used to protect the build. Ukrainians are also
has been announced since damage to its economy Ukraine." airspace around the White being trained to use the
Russia's February invasion. from Western sanctions im- Much of the aid formally House and Capitol in Wash- newly provided systems.q

Pre-pandemic sized crowds descend on U.S. airports for holiday

By DAVID KOENIG set a record even with the ing the bus or train will of-
AP Airlines Writer national average price for ten be a better option in
The July Fourth holiday gasoline hovering near $5. the U.S. this summer.
weekend is off to a boom- Leisure travel has bounced "There's no getting around
ing start with airport crowds back this year, and that the fact that this is going
crushing the numbers seen means particularly big to be a summer of travel
in 2019, before the pan- crowds over holidays. delays, cancelations, and
demic. With many flights sold out frustrations," he said.
Travelers seemed to be over the July Fourth week- While vacationers are
experiencing fewer delays end, airlines will struggle to crowing airports and road-
and canceled flights Friday find seats for passengers side restaurants, business
than they did earlier this whose flights are canceled. travel and international fly-
week. Airlines advise customers to ing remain depressed, and
The Transportation Security check their flight's status the total number of people
Administration screened before going to the airport. flying has not fully recov- Travelers check in at the Philadelphia International Airport
more than 2.4 million trav- If you're already at the ered to pre-pandemic ahead of the Independence Day holiday weekend in Philadel-
elers at airport checkpoints airport when your flight is levels. TSA screened 11% phia, Friday, July 1, 2022.
on Thursday, 17% more canceled, "it's time to flex fewer people in June than Associated Press
than on the same Friday your multitasking skills," it did in the same month of
before July Fourth in 2019. said Sebastian Modak, ed- 2019. schedules after bad weath- disputes that claim.
"We expect that (Friday) is itor-at-large of travel guide Thursday marked the 11th er, air-traffic delays and a By mid-afternoon Friday
going to be busy, of course, publisher Lonely Planet. He time since the pandemic lack of enough employees on the East Coast, airlines
and then Sunday will be advises heading straight started that TSA checked caused widespread can- had canceled more than
very busy," TSA Administra- to the airline's help desk, more people than it did on cellations over the Memo- 350 U.S. flights and another
tor David Pekoske said on checking its app on your the same day in 2019, and rial Day weekend. 3,700 were delayed. From
NBC's "Today" show. phone, and calling the air- just the second time since Airline executives blame June 22 through Wednes-
AAA predicts that nearly 48 line's customer-service line February. their flight problems on the day at least 600 flights were
million people will travel at — an international number Airlines could almost surely Federal Aviation Admin- canceled, and between
least 50 miles or more from might be answered sooner be carrying more passen- istration, which runs the 4,000 and 7,000 were de-
home over the weekend, than a U.S. one for airlines gers if they had enough nation's air traffic control layed per day, accord-
slightly fewer than in 2019. that have both. staffing. Many U.S. airlines system, but Transportation ing to tracking service
AAA says car travel will Modak said driving or tak- have trimmed their summer Secretary Pete Buttigieg FlightAware.q