(Repeating to restore word dropped in headline)

By Mike Stone

WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) - The United States is

preparing a $275 million military aid package for Ukraine, which

will include 155mm artillery shells, precision aerial munitions

and ground vehicles, three U.S. officials told Reuters on

Thursday.

Moscow's forces have hammered the northeastern city of

Kharkiv for months and launched a ground assault into the north

of the surrounding region on May 10, an offensive that Kyiv says

has stalled on two lines of attack for now.

The weapons aid, which could be announced as soon as Friday,

will utilize Presidential Drawdown Authority, which authorizes

the president to transfer articles and services from U.S. stocks

without specific congressional approval during an emergency.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they

were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

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 presidential drawdown authority

items.

While the package mainly includes munitions, it also

includes vehicles that are designed to recover disabled tanks

and other heavy equipment from the battlefield, a sign that the

U.S. expects attacks and equipment losses to continue.

Military analysts expected 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 passage

of the supplemental spending bill.