Ukraine’s Defense Minister said the US long-range missile systems arrived, as Russian forces continued their advance in the eastern Donbas region.
Ukraine says it has received the US High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), a powerful long-range weapon system that Kyiv hopes could help turn the tide of the Russian invasion.
“HIMARS has arrived in Ukraine. Thanks to my colleague and friend @SecDef Lloyd J. Austin III for these powerful tools! Summer will be very hot for Russians. And the last time for some of them,” Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov wrote on Twitter on Thursday.
He did not say how many systems have arrived.
HIMARS has arrived in Ukraine.
Thank you my colleague and friend @SecDef Lloyd J. Austin III for these powerful tools!
Summer will be very hot for Russians. And the last one for some of them. pic.twitter.com/BTmwadthpp– Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) June 23, 2022
The announcement comes as Moscow’s forces advance towards eastern Ukraine in an attempt to capture the industrial hub known as the Donbas, where Ukraine fears some of its troops could be encircled in Russia’s grip. .
Ukraine says it needs the HIMARS systems to better match the range of Russian missile systems, which it says are widely used to hit Ukrainian positions in the Donbas.
Washington said it had received assurances from Kyiv that those longer-range weapons would not be used to attack Russian territory, amid concerns about an escalation of the conflict.
While the West has sent weapons to Ukraine to help it fend off the Kremlin’s forces, Kyiv complains it’s getting a fraction of what it needs and is calling for heavier weapons.
Moscow has warned it will strike targets in Ukraine that it “has not yet hit” if the West provides Ukraine with longer-range missiles for use in high-precision mobile missile systems.
