“Four flights arrived from the United States yesterday to the region, with various equipment,” announced the official who requested anonymity.
A fifth flight should arrive in the next 24 hours, “which will make five flights in the same number of days” since President Joe Biden announced new $800 million in military aid for Ukraine on Wednesday, he stressed.
In addition, US soldiers deployed on NATO’s eastern front since the beginning of the Russian invasion will begin “in the next few days” to train Ukrainian soldiers in the handling of M777 Howitzer guns, the latest generation artillery pieces that the United States delivered for the first time to the Ukrainian army.
Although their handling is not fundamentally different from what the Ukrainian army knows, these guns use 155 mm shells, used by NATO countries, while Ukraine only has 152 mm shells, made by Russia.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the first shipment had arrived 48 hours after Biden authorized the aid delivery, at “unprecedented speed.”
Kirby also said that soldiers deployed on the eastern flank of NATO territory since the start of the Moscow invasion will begin “in the next few days” to train Ukrainian soldiers in howitzers, which are the latest generation of weapons. that gun.
However, the training will take place outside Ukraine, Kirby stressed. “It will be a small number of Ukrainians who will be trained on the Howitzers, and then they will be reintroduced to their country to train their colleagues.”
For their part, the Russian forces are beginning to feel the effect of the sanctions on their supply of weapons, particularly guided missiles, said the senior US Defense Ministry official.
The sanctions “had an effect on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s ability to resupply and re-equip himself, in particular as regards the components of his precision-guided missiles and systems,” he said.
On the other hand, we know that they are struggling to replenish themselves with their own defense industry and are wondering how quickly and to what degree they can accelerate their weapons production,” he added. “Sanctions have an effect on their ability to do so.”
The most modern weapons use electronic chips whose main producers are Taiwan and South Korea, two countries allied with the United States that stopped exporting these products to Russia in line with the sanctions decreed against that country for the invasion of Ukraine.
The entrance New US weapons arrive at the borders of Ukraine was first published in diary TODAY.
