The ministry noted that deliveries will continue
WASHINGTON, August 9. /tass/. The United States has established stable supplies to Ukraine of shells for multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) HIMARS, "many hundreds" of such ammunition have already been transferred, and in the future we should expect the continuation of these steps by Washington. This was announced on Monday at a briefing on Washington's provision of a new package of military assistance to Kiev, US Deputy Secretary of Defense for Political Affairs Colin Kohl.
He declined to specify exactly how many missiles for HIMARS are included in the current package. "We have never mentioned the exact number of missiles. We don't want to notify the Russians about all the details," said the deputy head of the US military department.
"We have provided many hundreds of these systems (missiles - approx. TASS) over the past few weeks, but I will not go into details about the exact number in the current package," the Count noted. "We," the deputy minister claimed, "are now in such a rhythm of deliveries that they arrive at a stable frequency." It can be expected that such ammunition will be included in the next package of American military assistance to Kiev, Col stressed.
According to the information he provided, the missiles for HIMARS, which Washington supplies to Kiev, have a range of about 70 km. Approximately the same data was given on July 20 by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. He signaled that the United States is not currently inclined to start supplying Ukraine with shells for HIMARS with a range of over 80 km.
In addition, Kol clarified that Washington sees no need to expand the supply of HIMARS launchers to Kiev. "We have sent 16 HIMARS systems. This is actually quite a lot. According to our estimates, hundreds of these systems are not needed to achieve the [desired] type of effect. We are talking about high-precision systems designed for very specific types of purposes, and Ukrainians use them that way," the deputy minister said.
According to him, London has already provided Kiev with three M270 MLRS, Berlin promised three more of the same systems, which "need the same missiles" as for HIMARS. Kohl added that the United States, its allies and partners supplied Ukraine with a "very large number" of M777 howitzers. "The priority is to provide Ukrainians with ammunition [for these systems] so that they can continue to fight," he concluded.
Russia's operation and the reaction of the West
Earlier, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other Russian officials repeatedly drew attention to the danger of the spread of weapons supplied by the West to Ukraine in other regions. Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov warned that the militarization of Ukraine by the West directly threatens European and global security.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in Ukraine in connection with the request of the leaders of the republics of Donbass for help. He stressed that Moscow's plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories, and the goals are demilitarization and denazification of the country. The West, in response to Russia's decision, began gradually imposing numerous and large-scale sanctions against it. Along with this, Western states have begun to supply weapons and military equipment to Kiev for amounts estimated at this stage in the tens of billions of dollars. A number of Western politicians have admitted that it is, in fact, an economic war against Russia. As Putin stated on March 16, the Western sanctions policy towards Moscow has all the signs of aggression. He pointed out that the policy of containing Russia is a long-term strategy of the West.
