The latest move comes after a row between Zelensky and Donald Trump earlier this month when the US eased sanctions on Russia as part of a deal to secure Russian diesel.
The US president stated it was time for Ukraine to get a new leader to strike a deal to end the war with Russia. Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, having earlier seized Crimea and parts of Donbas in the east.
Tensions eased after Zelensky held talks with US envoys in Oslo on 20 October.
In Friday’s statement, the State Department said “this proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a partner country that is a force for political and economic stability in Europe”.
It said “Ukraine will pay for this purchase with donations from Canada, Germany, and Norway via the JUMPSTART program and national funds, financed by the European Union’s Ukraine Support Loan”.
The statement said the “principal contractor” would be American company Lockheed Martin, adding that “no US funds are involved in this sale”.
Meanwhile, at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting European diplomats protested over the presence of Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov by refusing to stand for an official photograph.
The meeting is being hosted in Atlanta by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Let me say this directly to the Russian Foreign Minister: We all know who the aggressor in this war is,” UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told Lavrov at the summit, accusing his government of killing innocent civilians in Ukraine.
