An advanced rocket system provided to Ukraine by the United States is making a substantial impact in the country’s ongoing war against Russia, American and Ukrainian officials told The New York Times on Friday.
Four High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems have deployed to the front lines of Ukraine’s counter-offensive in the Donbas, with Ukrainian officials claiming they require nearly 300 more to combat the Kremlin.
“Because it is such a precise, longer-range system, Ukrainians are able to carefully select targets that will undermine the effort by Russia in a more systematic way … than they would be able to do with the shorter-range artillery systems,” a Pentagon source said, per The Hill.
“What you see is the Ukrainians are actually systematically selecting targets and then accurately hitting them, thus providing this, you know, precise method of degrading Russian capability,” the source continued. “I see them being able to continue to use this throughout Donbas.”
Other Pentagon officials and military analysts told The Times that Ukrainian soldiers were using the weapons effectively, firing one or two guided rockets at strategic Russian positions at night.
“So far, they seem to be a quite useful addition,” said Russian military specialist Rob Lee of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. “They will help hinder further Russian advances, but they won’t necessarily mean Ukraine will be able to take back territory.”
The news comes as President Joe Biden promised $800 million more in aid to Ukraine during the NATO summit on Thursday, according to Reuters.
“We are going to support Ukraine as long as it takes,” Biden told attendees in Madrid.
Via Newsmax