Near Kherson, Ukraine – Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba issued an urgent request on Thursday evening to Western leaders to send more “heavy weapons” to his country to help Ukrainian forces counter a powerful one. Russian offensive in the eastern Donbas region.
“The only position where Russia is better than us is the amount of heavy weapons they have,” Kuleba said in a video call. “Without artillery, without multiple rocket launch systems, we will not be able to push them back.”
Kuleba said the situation in the Donbas was “even worse than people say,” and pleaded with Western allies for a repeated plea: “If you really care about Ukraine, arms, guns and weapons again.”
Kyiv’s calls have apparently been heard in Washington, where a Biden administration official told CBS News national security correspondent David Martin that the White House was inclined to provide rocket launch systems. (MLRS) in Ukraine as part of the next military package. help for the country.
A promotional photo shows one of Lockheed Martin’s “High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems” (HIMARS) in use. Lockheed Martin
No final decision has been made in Washington, officials told CBS News, but if the Biden administration pledges to provide MLRS to Ukraine, they said it would probably be weapons known as HIMARS, made by Lockheed Martin, which they will provide a slightly longer range and much more punch than the 155mm shells currently provided by the US. The highly portable HIMARS can fire six shells at once, unlike single-fire shells, and the rockets themselves are considerably larger than the shells, at 277 mm.
Ukrainian troops are already heavily dependent on US-supplied shells as they try to stop Russia’s advance on villages around two major cities in Donbas, Ukraine’s long-standing industrial center that is now largely under Russian control. .
Some of the latest videos from the war-torn nation show Russia bombing Ukraine’s positions with next-generation warheads known as vacuum bombs. Russia’s overwhelming artillery advantage has allowed its forces to capture more territory in the Donbas this week.
CBS News correspondent Imtiaz Tyab says the city of Popasna is a clear example of what a Russian “victory” in Ukraine is like. The city is located just over 10 miles south of the twin cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, which Russia strives to capture. Popasna was recently taken by pro-Russian troops, and is now in ruins, with the remains of the dead still on the street.
Tyab says Moscow is devoting almost all of its firepower to efforts to consolidate control of the entire Donbas, with thousands of Russian troops attacking from three sides.
A map shows the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Getty / iStockphoto
If Severodonetsk and Lysychansk fall, almost the entire Luhansk province, which is about half of the Donbas, would be under Russian control.
But Ukrainian forces Tyab and his team have met this week saying they will not fall without a fight, and U.S. shells are a big part of how they hope to turn the tide against Russia. U.S.-made artillery pieces fire farther, move faster, and can be hidden much more easily than other weapons already available to Ukrainians.
Ukrainians currently have about 85 of the 108 shells promised by the Biden administration.
The US trains Ukrainians with 2: 2 shell artillery
“The more shells we have, the easier it will be to fight the Russians,” Lieutenant Colonel Serhii Zayika, the head coach of the Ukrainian forces using weapons near the southern city of Kherson, told CBS News.
It was the howitzer that helped Ukrainian troops push back Russian forces to bomb a small village near Kherson, forcing Tyab and his team to take refuge with soldiers near the front earlier this week. .
At the front of the war in Ukraine 2:59
It is an agile but powerful weapon against Russia’s advancing army, but it is clear that Ukraine wants more, and even more lethal firepower as its forces face the Russian offensive.
On Friday, it seemed that Kyiv’s wish could be fulfilled, but it was unclear when US multi-rocket launch systems could arrive, or if they would arrive soon enough to help Ukraine’s defenders prevent Russia from seizing both. large cities in Donbas.
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