U.S. President Joe Biden has approved a new USD 400 million weapons package for Ukraine, including four additional high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) and more ammunition. This was reported by Reuters on Friday, July 8.
A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the publication that the additional HIMARS would increase the total number of these systems to 12. The latest arms package also includes more precise ammunition for howitzer artillery systems, which are available to the U.S. military but had not been provided to Kyiv.
"Ukraine has now been successfully striking Russian locations in Ukraine, deeper behind the front lines and disrupting Russia's ability to conduct that artillery operation," the official said.
According to him, the new U.S. aid is meant to bolster Ukraine as it confronts heavy pounding by Russian artillery.
The official added that all the HIMARS provided to Ukraine were accounted for after Russia's defense ministry earlier this week said it had destroyed two HIMARS systems and their ammunition depots in the east of Ukraine.
Taking into account the latest aid packages, the United States has currently allocated about USD 7.3 billion to Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on July 6, Russian propaganda launched fakes about the destruction of HIMARS in Ukraine.
On June 24, CNN, citing a representative of the U.S. Department of Defense, reported that Ukraine would receive the declared HIMARS in mid-July.
On June 23, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that American M142 HIMARS have already entered service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and are in Ukraine.
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