The US is sending more weapons to Ukraine, this time to help with a counteroffensive

The Pentagon's latest package includes up to $775 million in weapons and supplies from its stockpiles, reports newssky.com.ua with reference to nYTimes.

The Defense Department is sending more missiles for the powerful HIMARS launchers provided by the United States to Ukraine, which allow them to strike deep behind enemy lines. By Corey Dickstein/Savannah Morning News, via Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The United States is sending a new influx of weapons and equipment that Ukraine will need for its counteroffensive against Russian forces in the south of the country, the Pentagon said Friday.

The Defense Department will also continue to send a steady stream of missiles for the HIMARS launchers, which are credited with destroying Russian command posts and ammunition depots, as well as other artillery designed to disrupt supply lines.

Taken together, the new shipment of weapons and supplies from the Pentagon's stockpiles, worth up to $775 million, illustrates a two-pronged strategy: fueling Ukraine's immediate artillery fight, as well as helping build an arsenal to support a counterattack near Kherson, in the south of the country, which has yet to be fully implemented.

The latest delivery includes 40 armored vehicles equipped with giant rollers to clear fields before any ground operation in Ukraine, as well as 50 armored Humvees, 1500 TOW guided missiles and 1000 Javelin anti-tank missiles.

"Demining is a really good example of the fact that the Ukrainians will need this kind of capability to move their forces forward and retake territory," a senior Defense Ministry official told reporters during a conference call on Friday.

The Pentagon is also sending more high-velocity anti-radiation missiles, or HARMs, air-to-surface weapons designed to seek out and destroy Russian air defense radars. Military engineers have figured out how to integrate an American missile onto Ukrainian Soviet-designed MiG fighters to help defeat one of the biggest threats to the Ukrainian Air Force.

The package also includes HIMARS missiles, 16 105mm howitzers and 36 rounds of ammunition, as well as 000 ScanEagle drones to help detect Russian targets and relay location information to gunners.

The United States has so far limited the number of HIMARS launchers sent to Ukraine to 16, fearing that providing more would burn up the Pentagon's stockpile of satellite-guided missiles and ultimately compromise U.S. military readiness.

In recent days, Pentagon officials have emphasized that the replenishment of ammunition for various artillery systems has now reached a regular, stable level that the Ukrainian command can count on when planning operations.

The shipment, the 19th by the Biden administration to Ukraine, came at a time when fighting in Kherson in the south and Donbas in the east has largely reached a stalemate. Russia's offensive to seize Donetsk Oblast, part of Donbas, has stalled — in part, U.S. officials say, because Moscow has moved several thousand troops south to counter an expected Ukrainian offensive there, and in part because of the fallout from HIMARS strikes.

"Right now, I would say you're seeing a complete lack of progress by the Russians on the battlefield," said a senior Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters. "You see how Russian troops in Ukraine are being pushed out."

But under pressure from journalists, the official said that the Ukrainians lacked the troops and combat power to knock the Russians out of their defensive positions.

"We haven't seen a significant return of territory, but we are seeing a significant weakening of Russia's position in various places," the official said.

The official has repeatedly refused to comment on a series of terrorist attacks and other explosions in Crimea over the past two weeks. Ukrainian officials privately attribute the attacks to an elite Ukrainian special forces unit operating behind enemy lines with the help of local guerrillas. The strikes shocked Russia's command in Crimea, which believed its troops and weapons depots were beyond the reach of Ukrainian attacks, officials said.