WASHINGTON, July 20 (Reuters) – The United States will send four more high-mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) to Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday in the latest military package to help him defend himself from Russian forces.
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu earlier this week ordered generals to prioritize the destruction of Ukraine’s long-range missiles and artillery after Western-supplied weapons were used to attack the lines. Russian supply.
Nearly five months since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion, Russian forces are crossing the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and occupying about a fifth of the country.
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“(We) will continue to find innovative ways to maintain our long-term support for the brave men and women of the Ukrainian armed forces and we will adapt our assistance to ensure that Ukraine has the technology, ammunition and great firepower to defend- said Austin at the start of a virtual meeting with allies in Ukraine.
The West has supplied Ukraine with longer-range heavy artillery and multiple rocket launch systems so that it can withstand despite the supremacy of Russian artillery in numbers and ammunition.
Ukraine says it has carried out successful attacks on 30 Russian logistics and ammunition centers, using various multiple rocket launch systems recently supplied by the West.
At a post-meeting press conference, US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said Ukraine had used HIMARS to strike at Russian command and control nodes, the logistics network and security posts. air defense within Ukraine.
About 200 Ukrainian forces had been trained at HIMARS and none of the systems had been destroyed by Russian forces, Milley said.
He added that a problem would be the rate of ammunition used by Ukrainian forces, although there would be no impact on U.S. readiness in the next two months at the current rate.
Milley said the Ukrainians had not yet lost the Donbas region and described it as a “war of attrition.”
HIMARS have a longer range and are more accurate than the Soviet-era artillery that Ukraine has had in its arsenal.
Austin said the new package would also include rounds for multi-launch rocket systems, as well as artillery ammunition.
The latest package would bring to 16 the total number of HIMARS that the United States has provided to Ukraine.
The United States has provided $ 8 billion in security assistance since the war began, including $ 2.2 billion last month.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow’s military “tasks” in Ukraine went beyond the eastern Donbass region, in the clearest recognition so far that it has expanded its goals. lics. Read more
Austin said Lavrov’s comments appeared to be aimed at the Russian population.
“This is not a surprise to any of us or to anyone in Europe or around the world. I think he is talking to the people of Russia who have been misinformed,” Austin told reporters.
The United States and its allies are beginning to examine the possible training of Ukrainian pilots as part of a project to help build a future Ukrainian air force, the Air Force chief of staff told Reuters. general Charles “CQ” Brown. Read more
A number of different options were being studied to help Ukrainian troops, including pilot training, but no decision had been made, Milley said.
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Report by Idrees Ali; Additional report by Kanishka Singh and Mike Stone; Edited by Andrew Heavens, Andrew Cawthorne and Grant McCool
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