HIMARS

The first units of HIMARS multiple rocket launchers have already arrived in Ukraine as part of the U.S. security assistance. — Ukrinform.

Earlier, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense for Political Affairs Colin Kahl said that providing Ukraine with several HIMARS multiple rocket launchers as part of the latest tranche of defense aid is only a starting point as the U.S. will continue to provide everything necessary to prevail against Russian aggression. The minister also suggested that summer “will be hot for russian occupiers.” “HIMARS have arrived to Ukraine. Thank you to my U.S.colleague and friend @SecDef Lloyd J. Austin III for these powerful tools!” the defense chief tweeted.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Oleksii Reznikov hailed the arrival of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) sent as military aid to the Eastern ...

Russia's president has evoked the historic Russian empire and referenced Peter the Great, who reigned from 1682 to 1725. The four HIMARS came as part of a $1 billion aid package announced by the White House earlier this month. Newsweek reached out to the Russian foreign ministry for comment. Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, drawing swift international condemnation and global backlash. Putin has questioned the validity of Ukraine's statehood and has noted that it was historically part of Russia. Ukraine became independent in 1991 after it left the now-defunct Soviet Union. "Summer will be hot for russian [sic] occupiers.

The aid is part of the $40 billion in security and economic assistance passed last month by Congress.

Overall, since the war began in late February, the U.S. has committed more than $6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, including this latest package. The HIMARS gives Ukraine the ability to strike Russian forces and weapons from further away. Ukrainian leaders have persistently asked for the more advanced, precision rocket systems in order to better fight back against Russia. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details ahead of an announcement.

The White House announced Thursday a $450 million assistance package for Ukraine that includes four more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) as ...

The fight in the east has been described as a street-by-street battle that could take months, if not years. To help Ukraine, the U.S. first sent Howitzers and have since started sending the longer-range and more accurate HIMARS. The HIMARS provide more precision-guided targeting with extended range so the Ukrainians can hit high-valued Russian targets from farther away. In addition to HIMARS, the package announced Thursday includes 36,000 rounds of ammunition, tactical vehicles, 2,000 machine guns and over 1,000 grenade launchers. Russia is also taking significant losses despite its numerical superiority. The munitions sent by the U.S. with the first shipment of HIMARS have a range of up to 70 kilometers, more than twice the range of M777 Howitzers, but less than the long-range Advanced Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) that can reach hundreds of kilometers.

U.S.-supplied patrol boats could be a boon to Ukrainian forces operating on inland waterways and off the country's Black Sea coasts.

The video is full of British cultural references from music by punk rock band The Clash to clips from James Bond movies. "Good day, Mr Regis. We ask you to send a word of thanks to President Macron for the gift of the self-propelled howitzer," a reply from UVZ's Telegram account read. The video in the Tweet below shows that Ukrainian helicopters, among other aircraft, continue to be available to launch strikes aimed at Russian forces. According to publicly available information, the Ukrainian Army has received approximately 20 of these vehicles from Poland. The European Parliament approved Ukraine's candidate status for European Union membership, as well as that of Moldova, in a resounding manner, with members voting 529 to 45 in favor. From the footage, it is clear that Russian helicopter pilots continue to conduct strikes using unguided rockets fired obliquely at targets from a distance. Interestingly, a video showing a Russian 9A83-1 TELAR (transporter erector launcher and radar) on a wheeled transporter reportedly in the Luhansk region of Donbas also appeared online today, as seen below. Though the additional HIMARS have gotten the most attention of all the items in this new batch of U.S. military aid for Ukraine, the inclusion of 18 unspecified "coastal and riverine patrol boats" is also notable. Ukraine is looking to bolster its air and missile defenses, as well, including through the purchase of ground-launched IRIS-T surface-to-air missile systems, which you can read more about here. Some Ukrainian units appear to have withdrawn from the Severodonetsk pocket, where they have been surrounded on at least three sides by Russian forces, in order to not be completely encircled, British officials said. The Associated Press first reported earlier today that a new aid package was to be announced and that it would include more of HIMARS, among other items. "Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $8.7 billion in security assistance to Ukraine."

Ukraine's defense minister Olekseii Reznikov thanked the US for the delivery of long-range rockets to fight the Russian invasion.

Long-range weapons have become pivotal in Ukraine's war with Russia, which is increasingly focused on artillery duels between the two armies. And the last one for some of them," tweeted Reznikov Thursday. "HIMARS have arrived to Ukraine. Thank you to my colleague and friend @SecDef Lloyd J. Austin III for these powerful tools!

While it is too early to say how useful the M142 HIMARS will be in combat, the system likely will not shift the balance of power in Ukraine.

The M142 HIMARS itself is a modernized, wheeled version of the earlier American M270 MLRS. On June 23, the Biden administration announced that the United States would supply Ukraine with four more HIMARS systems as part of a new $450 million security aid package. However, Ukraine will not be provided with ATACMS missiles for its HIMARS arsenal, and instead will be forced to rely on standard guided missiles. Each HIMARS system is made up of one launch pod mounted on a 5-ton XM1140A1 truck chassis. U.S. President Joseph Biden’s administration has so far pursued a strategy which emphasizes providing Ukraine with weapons to help level the playing field in fighting off Russia’s invasion but has balked at providing weapons which could escalate the war beyond Ukraine’s borders. Russian officials have labelled the United States’ decision to provide the HIMARS to Ukraine to be a “provocation” from the West, indicating that Moscow may be worried that the system could allow Ukrainian users to strike Russian targets more accurately and from greater distances, as it is designed to do.