May 10 (Reuters) - The United States is preparing a $400

million military aid package for Ukraine, as the U.S. returns to

a regular pace of supplying weapons to Kyiv after lawmakers

passed a $95 billion bill, the White House said on Friday.

The Ukraine aid package includes artillery, munitions for

NASAMS air defenses, anti-tank munitions, armored vehicles and

small arms that can immediately be put to use on the

battlefield, a U.S. official told Reuters earlier on condition

of anonymity.

The weapons aid will utilize Presidential Drawdown

Authority, or PDA, which authorizes the president to transfer

articles and services from U.S. stocks without specific

congressional approval during an emergency. As a part of the $95

billion aid bills, Congress authorized $60.8 billion worth of

various forms of aid to Ukraine, including $8 billion worth of

PDA items.

The aid announcement came after Russian forces launched an

armored ground attack on Friday near Ukraine's second city of

Kharkiv in the northeast of the country and made small inroads,

opening a new front in a war that has long been waged in the

east and south.

As replenishment funds for articles drawn from stocks are

deployed, U.S. defense companies would gain more contracts as

the Russia-Ukraine war grinds on. The aid package was first

reported by Politico.

Experts expect a boost in the order backlog of RTX,

along with other major companies that receive government

contracts, such as Lockheed Martin ( LMT ), General Dynamics ( GD )

, and Northrop Grumman ( NOC ), following the passage of

the supplemental spending bill.