2022-06-01T10:08:00+03:00 Politics 2024-05-15T05:53:08+03:00

Ukrainian news

United States Will Provide Ukraine With HIMARS With Range Of Up To 80 Km

United States Will Provide Ukraine With HIMARS With Range Of Up To 80 Km

Senior U.S. administration officials confirmed on Tuesday that the U.S. will send U.S.-made highly mobile artillery missile systems, known as HIMARS, to Ukraine as part of Ukraine's 11^th aid package.

The Yevropeiska Pravda online media says, reports CNN.

The HIMARSes will be equipped with munitions that will allow Ukraine to launch missiles at a distance of about 80 kilometers (49 miles), officials said.

This is much less than the maximum range of the systems, which is about 300 kilometers, but much more than anything that has been sent to Ukraine to date. For example, the M777 howitzers that the U.S. sent to Ukraine last month showed a significant increase in range and power compared to previous systems, but they even reached a range of about 25 kilometers.

The new security assistance package, which will be officially announced on Wednesday, will also include air surveillance radars, additional Javelin anti-tank weapons, anti-armor weapons, artillery shells, helicopters, tactical equipment and spare parts to continue equipment maintenance.

Officials said the U.S. "does not encourage or allow Ukraine to strike outside its borders" and "does not seek to prolong the war."

Officials also stressed that the new missile systems would help put Ukraine "in the strongest position at the negotiating table" with Russia, and reiterated that the U.S. "will not pressure the Ukrainian government, publicly or privately, to make any territorial concessions."

Earlier, U.S. President Joe Biden, in an article in the New York Times, said that the United States would provide Ukraine with more advanced missile systems and ammunition.

As Ukrainian News Agency reported, on May 30, Reuters reported that the United States of America would not send missile systems to Ukraine that could reach Russian territory.

On May 27, Head of the Presidential Office Andrii Yermak said that discussions continue in the United States regarding the provision of MLRS, the American universal missile launcher, to Ukraine, while Ukraine emphasizes the urgency of its provision.