In mid-September 2026, the United States approved a $2.7 billion military sale to Ukraine focused on air-defense upgrades and development — one of the largest single commitments of its kind since the Russian invasion began. The package is less about delivering finished weapons than about building Ukraine's enduring capacity to protect its skies, a distinction that speaks to the long horizon Washington now envisions for this conflict. It is a familiar gesture in an unfamiliar war: a superpower signaling, through the language of procurement, that it does not intend to look away.