West helps Ukraine with key weaponry

Kyiv, July 22: The message to U.S. lawmakers from Ukraine’s first lady, delivered amid stark and graphic images of civilian bloodshed, couldn’t have been clearer: After nearly five full months since Russia launched its invasion, Olena Zelenska said that her country needs more Western weapons.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent her to Washington to appeal directly to U.S. Congress for air defence systems. The appeal Wednesday came as Russia suggested it plans to grab broader areas beyond the industrial region of eastern Ukraine known as the Donbas, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasizing that Moscow also claims the Kherson region and part of Zaporizhzhia and will “continuously and persistently” expand its gains elsewhere.

The billions of dollars in Western military assistance have been crucial for Ukraine’s efforts to fend off Russian attacks, but officials in Kyiv say the numbers are still too small to turn the tide of the war. A look at what Ukraine has received so far: The HIMARS systems supplied by the U.S. and similar M270s from Britain have significantly bolstered the Ukrainian military’s precision-strike capability.

The HIMARS and M270 have a longer range, a much better precision and a faster rate of fire compared with Soviet-designed Smerch, Uragan and Tornado multiple rocket launchers used by both Russia and Ukraine.

The truck-mounted HIMARS launchers fire GPS-guided missiles capable of hitting targets up to 80 kilometres (50 miles) away, a distance that puts them out of reach of most Russian artillery systems. The mobile launchers are hard for the enemy to spot and can quickly change position after firing to escape airstrikes.

The Ukrainian military so far has received a dozen HIMARS and several M270 systems, but it already has used them to successfully target Russian ammunition and fuel depots in eastern Ukraine, essential for supporting Moscow’s offensive. On Wednesday, Ukrainian forces reportedly used HIMARS to hit a strategic bridge in the Russia-occupied southern region of Kherson. “HIMARS have hardly had any rest during the day or at night. Their potential has been used to the maximum,” Ukrainian military experts Oleh Zhdanov told The Associated Press. “The results have been impressive. Over 30 important Russian targets have been hit with high precision over the past two weeks.”

U.S. authorities so far have refrained from providing Ukraine with longer-range missiles for HIMARS launchers that can reach targets up to 300 kilometres (186 miles), allowing the military to hit areas deep inside Russian territory. Ukraine has taken deliveries of more than 200 heavy artillery systems from the U.S. and its NATO allies. They have included the U.S. M777, French CAESAR, German PzH 2000 and a few other towed and self-propelled long-range artillery systems.

The Western howitzers have some advantages over older Soviet-designed systems in the Russian and Ukrainian arsenals, but it takes time for Ukrainian crews to learn how to operate them.