Ukraine Receives Four Additional HIMARS From U.S. – Ukraine’s Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov revealed on Twitter on Tuesday that four additional High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) from the United States were received by the Ukrainian military. In the post, the Ukrainian official thanked the White House and secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for the latest round of aid and confirmed that more HIMARS were on the way.
“4 additional HIMARS from our U.S. partners have arrived! I thank U.S. President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III & the American people. HIMARS time: good time for Ukrainians and bad time for the occupiers. Great news on the eve of Ramstein 6, where I’m going tomorrow. There will be more,” Reznikov wrote.
The four additional missile systems were promised earlier this month when the Biden administration announced a $625 million weapons aid package that included the HIMARS. It was the second such Presidential Drawdown Authority aid package for Ukraine since the beginning of the war and included a range of other pieces of military equipment, including 200 Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles and ammunition for howitzers already on the battlefield.
In another tweet, Reznikov also touted a “new era” of air defense for Ukraine, announcing that IRIS-T medium-range infrared homing air-to-air missile systems had already arrived from Germany – the first in an expected shipment of four.
“This is only the beginning. And we need more. No doubt that russia is a terrorist state,” Reznikov said on Twitter, apparently referencing the recent drone and missile campaign that terrorized Ukrainian cities early on Monday morning.
A new era of air defence has begun in ??. IRIS-Ts from ?? are already here. ?? NASAMS are coming. This is only the beginning. And we need more. No doubt that russia is a terrorist state.
There is a moral imperative to protect the sky over ?? in order to save our people. pic.twitter.com/jvbXUwDjc8— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) October 11, 2022
Russia Is Angry Over Japan’s Use of HIMARS In Military Exercise
As Ukraine continues to depend heavily on Western-supplied HIMARS, Russian officials are reportedly angry that Japan fired the same weapons close to the Russian border during recent joint American and Japanese military exercises this week.
In a statement, Russia’s Foreign Ministry condemned the use of the weapons and confirmed that the Kremlin had contacted the Japanese embassy on Wednesday about the matter.
“We consider the military exercises that took place as a challenge to ensuring the security of the Far Eastern region of our country and insist on the immediate cessation of such actions,” the statement reads.
HIMARS. This is similar to what is being used in Ukraine.
HIMARS Training: Credit – Wisconsin National Guard / Sgt. Sean Huolihan. Wisconsin National Guard / Sgt. Sean Huolihan
M142 HIMARS. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The statement also claims that the Japanese were “warned about the inevitability of adequate response measures in order to block military threats to Russia,” though no additional context or information was provided.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
