Ukraine will purchase a second consignment of U.S. Javelin anti-tank missiles and launch units, Ukraine¡¯s Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

The United States has been one of Kiev¡¯s strongest supporters since Moscow¡¯s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the outbreak of fighting in Ukraine¡¯s eastern Donbass region that has killed more than 13,000 people.

Contracts for the deal were signed in the fourth quarter of 2019, the defense ministry in a statement, without giving further details.

A first shipment of Javelin systems worth around $47 million arrived in Ukraine in April 2018 after the U.S. State Department gave the green light for the deal.

Kiev and Washington believe the system will improve Ukraine¡¯s long-term defense capacity.

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill that envisages providing $300 million in military aid to Ukraine in 2020.