WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Department of State has confirmed delivery of Javelin anti-tank missile systems to Ukraine, a department spokesperson told Sputnik on Monday.

"We have delivered them," the official said.

The United States has been assigning millions of dollars to support Ukraine, particularly in the defense area, over the past years. US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch has said that the United States had provided over $850 million in security assistance to Kiev since 2014. The 2018 US defense budget, signed into law by President Donald Trump in December, allocates $350 million for security assistance to Kiev.

Moreover, in early March, the US Department of State signed off on a $47-million sale of shoulder-fired Javelin anti-tank missiles requested by Ukraine.

READ MORE: US Javelin Sale Will Reduce Kiev's Incentive to Modernize Army – Analysts

Moscow has repeatedly warned against supplies of weapons to Ukraine saying that this would result in an escalation of the military conflict in the country's eastern Donbas region, ongoing since 2014. This stance has also been supported by a number of European officials.

In April 2014, Kiev launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed republics in the Donbas region which refused to recognize the new Ukrainian government that came to power in what they perceived to be a coup. The conflicting sides signed the Minsk peace accords in February 2015 to end the fighting in the crisis-torn region, but the situation has remained tense, with both parties accusing each other of ceasefire violations.