He added that in order to “meet Ukraine’s most urgent battle needs,” the United States wouldprovide the country with hundreds of armoured vehicles and other military equipment as part of a huge new USD 2.5 billion security assistance package.“Our new package provides even more air defence capabilities to help Ukraine defend its cities and its skies,” Austin said.Meanwhile, on Thursday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz resisted calls to provide Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, according to news reports.Reuters reported on Thursday that "agovernment source in Germany has said it would move on the Leopard tanks issue if the United States agreed to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine."Ukraine is pushing for more assistance to repel Moscow's invasion, amid concerns that winter will give the Russian army time to regroup and launch a major new offensive, Reutersreported."