US to provide intel for rocket strikes in Ukraine - Pentagon
Pentagon policy chief, Colin Kahl said that the US will also provide Ukrainian forces with the information they need to strike specific targets within their territory.
Pentagon policy chief, Colin Kahl, stated that Ukrainian forces have nearly completed training on High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) delivered by the United States and the United Kingdom.
"We did provide an initial tranche of HIMARS systems. The Ukrainians are completing training as we speak. We expect those systems to get into the fight soon, and we’re committed to continuing the flow of those munitions," Kahl said at the Center for a New American Security's 2022 National Security Conference.
The US will also provide Ukrainian forces with the information they need to strike specific targets within their territory, according to Kahl.
Read next: US approves $40 billion aid to Ukraine amidst inflation crisis
Earlier this month, UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace stated that the UK will supply Ukraine with long-range M270 multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) manufactured in the United States, despite Moscow's warning to third-party countries against such supplies.
At the beginning of June, US President Joe Biden also announced a new Ukraine military assistance package that included HIMARS. President Vladimir Putin responded to the announcement by claiming that Ukraine already has similar weapons and that additional arms deliveries to Kiev will only prolong the conflict.
Putin believed that if Ukraine receives long-range missiles capable of targetting Russian territory from abroad, Moscow will reconsider refraining from striking "those objects that have not yet been hit."
'not worth a red cent'
Moreover, the Head of the Russian Delegation to the Negotiations on Military Security and Arms Control in Vienna, Konstantin Gavrilov, told the Rossiya-24 TV channel that Russia will respond immediately in the event that it is attacked with long-range weapon systems.
"We particularly put the spotlight on the delivery [to Ukraine] of long-range howitzers and HIMARS MLRS that threaten not only Donbass but Russia as well. We have clearly laid out Russia’s stance: if the Russian Federation is attacked with these long-range systems, the response against the decision-making centers will be immediate," he said, adding, "I think, this is happening not without the involvement of Ukraine’s military and political leadership. I am not ruling out anything anymore," Gavrilov stressed.
According to the diplomat, the Kiev regime had promised that Ukraine won’t use the HIMARS system to strike Russia, but these promises are "not worth a red cent."