The Biden administration announced on Friday that it will send another $400 million in military equipment to Ukraine, including four more HIMAR (High Mobility Artillery Rocket) systems. This now brings the total to twelve that the United States have sent to Ukraine to assist them in striking Russian targets behind the frontlines. A senior military official said at least 100 Ukrainian troops have been trained on the HIMARS.
This new package includes:
- Four High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and additional ammunition for HIMARS;
- Three Tactical Vehicles to recover equipment;
- 155mm artillery ammunition;
- Demolition munitions;
- Counter-battery systems;
- Spare parts and other equipment.
This comes as Russia in recently has launched dozens of missiles across Ukraine, rocking Ukrainian forces with sometimes hour(s) long barrages of artillery. The U.S estimates that 10 to 15 Russian battalion tactical groups (BTGs) are in the Donbas/Donbass region, but that Russia has taken substantial losses in the recent fighting and may have to pause to reorganize and reset equipment, each BTG has between 800-1,000 troops. Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed this recently when they announced that troops in the East of Ukraine will be reorganizing and resting following their successful taking of the Luhansk region with the capture of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.
The United States started providing the precision rocket weapon systems to Ukraine last month after receiving assurances from Kyiv that it would not use them to hit targets inside Russian territory. Ukraine has not used HIMARS systems to strike outside of Ukraine, the official added.
The United States has now committed $2.2 billion of security assistance to Ukraine in the last three weeks. Overall, the U.S. has sent about $7.3 billion in aid to Ukraine since the war began in late February. Since 2014, the United States has committed more than $9.2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine.
