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Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, a think-tank, said Ukraine's immediate priority would likely be artillery — both ammunition and the guns — as well as air defence systems and missiles to replenish stocks depleted by recent Russian airstrikes. That stands to improve the balance "between Russian and Ukrainian forces this year and into next year," Savill told CBC News. "In essence, this this is largely a defensive package." With it, the Ukrainians need to "blunt Russian attacks" this year, he said, compelling them to "make enormous expenditure for relatively little gain."

For months, Russia has enjoyed air superiority along the front lines because of Ukrainian shortages of surface-to-air missiles. Moscow’s VKS air force has almost freely been able to drop glide bombs on targets – a tactic that was considered defining in the recent battle for Avdiivka, which was captured by Russian forces in February. “Additionally, although the US seems to prefer that US supplied weapons be used on Ukrainian soil by their very presence these weapons also force the Russians to reconsider the safety of aircraft in other airbases,” Dr Sidharth Kaushal, of the Rusi think tank in London, said. “If the VKS has to operate from air bases further back it limits the Russian air forces operational tempo and thus its overall effect on events on the ground.”

China is providing moorage for a US-sanctioned Russian cargo ship implicated in North Korean arms transfers to Russia, according to satellite images. Britain’s Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank said the Russian vessel Angara, which since August 2023 has moved thousands of containers believed to contain North Korean munitions to Russian ports, has been anchored at a Chinese shipyard in eastern Zhejiang province since February.