The United States has introduced another new package of military aid to Ukraine, reported to be worth around $125 million, and this time it includes more munitions for HIMARS systems, at a moment Kiev has acknowledged using the missile system inside Russian territory.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described in press statement at the end of this week that this additional assistance is “provided under a drawdown from Department of Defense stocks, includes: counter-unmanned aerial systems equipment and munitions” as well as “additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).”
The statement also listed the following additional items: 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor missiles, Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles, small arms ammunition, ambulances, demolition equipment and munitions, and spare parts, medical equipment, ancillary equipment, services, training, and transportation.
The Presidential Drawdown Authority is a long-used, albeit controversial, mechanism in Ukraine, that allows the president to transfer weaponry to allies from current US stockpiles. Essentially it depletes America’s defense stores.
Moscow is sure to take this new package as a huge and intentional provocation from Washington, given it was only days ago that Ukraine’s military for the first time openly acknowledged it is using US-provided HIMARS rocket systems to attack Russia and destroy its major infrastructure, especially bridges, inside its own territory.
Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces made the admission in a Wednesday Telegram post to its official account, writing:Â “Where do Russian pontoon bridges ‘disappear’ in the Kursk region? Operators … accurately destroy them.”
“The statement said U.S.-manufactured HIMARS rocket systems were used,” Reuters described of the statement. What’s more is that Ukraine’s military published footage of US HIMARS being used to target several key bridges in Kursk in a new video montage.
In the summer of 2022, Ukraine reversed the momentum of the war with HIMARS strikes on large Russian ammo depots. Now it is using its increasingly more capable drone fleet to hit Russian weapons storage sites hundreds of miles away. Ukraine’s military intelligence says this… pic.twitter.com/pSSLOGsQaE
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) August 24, 2024
Starting over a week ago, Russian officials began accusing Ukraine forces of using the American-supplied weapon, after at least two bridges were destroyed. By last weekend, a third strategic bridge was taken out as Ukraine forces tried to solidify their hold in Kursk.
Tyler Durden
Sat, 08/24/2024 – 12:50
