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The United States hopes that more arms packages for Ukraine will be announced at a meeting of almost 50 countries

2022-06-14T19:44:51.389Z


The United States awaits further announcements of arms and equipment shipments to Ukraine at a meeting of nearly 50 countries in Brussels on Wednesday.


Grain warehouses destroyed in Ukraine amid food shortages 0:59

Brussels (CNN) --

The United States awaits further announcements of packages of weapons and equipment to be sent to Ukraine to help in its fight against Russia at a meeting of nearly 50 countries in Brussels on Wednesday, according to a senior US defense official. .


Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia is gaining ground in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, specifically in the city of Severodonetsk, which has seen some of the heaviest fighting recently.

Without a larger influx of weapons, some Ukrainian officials have said it will be increasingly difficult to stop Russia's creeping advance or recapture occupied ground in the region.

  • Russia now has control of much of Severodonetsk, the epicenter of the battle for Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

"We hear what they are saying, we absolutely hear what they are saying," the senior defense official said, speaking of the "urgency" of the Ukraine Contact Group meeting in Brussels.

The official declined to detail which countries will announce new security packages or what those shipments will include, but said the United States is working "very closely" with its allies to find out what Ukraine's military needs and then find those systems to deliver them.

The official also would not say whether the US would make a new announcement, but said the Biden administration is already working on the next weapons package.

"It's a constant request because it's a constant battle" with "urgent requirements that are constantly evolving," the official told a group of reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

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A High Mobility Artillery Rocket System during a training mission in Florida on May 10.

The administration announced the latest weapons package in early June, including the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), a system capable of launching multiple rockets and missiles that Ukraine had urgently requested for weeks.

The $700 million package was the first time the administration had turned to last month's $40 billion aid package for Ukraine, which received bipartisan support in Congress.

  • Germany agrees to send heavy weapons to Ukraine in major policy shift

A small group of Ukrainian soldiers began training with the HIMARS almost immediately after the weapons package was announced.

But the system, which requires three weeks of training, has yet to see combat.

The senior defense official only stated that he will enter Ukraine "soon".

The United States has taken "some risk" to its own military readiness by sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said earlier this month, but it was "not an unacceptable level of risk at all."

The senior defense official said the US and its allies have a significant amount of equipment still available to send to Ukraine.

"We are far from exhausting the resources and security assistance of various countries for this battle on Ukrainian soil," the official said.

Zelensky asks for more

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky promised in a late-night speech Monday that Ukraine would liberate all Russian-occupied territories, including the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed shortly after he took office in 2014. But that could only happen. , he said, if more weapons are sent to Ukraine.

"You just need enough weapons to make it happen. The partners have them. In sufficient quantities. And we work every day to bring about the political will to give us those weapons," Zelensky said.

Ukrainian officials have said that between 100 and 200 soldiers are killed in combat every day, a figure that raises some questions about the ability of the Ukrainian armed forces to withstand such losses.

The US official said they do not doubt the casualty figures.

"The figures are not out of line with what would be expected for this type of artillery battle," the official said.

"It is not surprising that the figures reported by the Ukrainians are so dire."

  • Zelensky revealed how many missiles hit Ukrainian territory since the beginning of the war

But the official said the US has not seen a decline in Ukrainian morale to stay in the fight, even as the conflict turns into a brutal artillery battle that may favor Ukranian firepower and manpower. Russian military.

The official struck a more optimistic note about the state of the war, even as Russia appears to be gaining momentum in the Donbas region.

Morale problems, lack of command, and supply problems have plagued the Russian Army since the beginning of the invasion.

Russia was able to disguise some of those problems when the focus shifted to eastern Ukraine, as the battlefield bordered Russia, making it easier to send supplies over short distances to units on the front lines.

Much of Russia's high-end equipment has already been destroyed, the official said, forcing them to rely on older models.

At the same time, Russia's stockpiles of precision ammunition are dwindling, leading to the use of more artillery, which has had devastating consequences for its lack of accuracy.

Sanctions and export restrictions have also made it more difficult to replenish its high-end capabilities, the official said.

Despite all the challenges the Russians have faced, both those of their own making and those stemming from Ukraine's counterattacks, Moscow still retains its greatest advantage: the sheer size of its military.

But that does not mean that Russia is guaranteed victory, although Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown no indication that he is considering reducing his targets.

FirearmsWar in Ukraine

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2022-06-14

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