On the morning of July 9, the Armed Forces of Ukraine fired on the city of Irmino in the LPR from the American wheeled MLRS M142 HIMARS ("Haymars"). Russian journalist Andrei Rudenko informed the public about this in his Telegram channel, referring to information from the LPR Ambassador to Russia Rodion Miroshnik.
The diplomat clarified that at 05:30 “arrivals” of two missiles were recorded in the indicated settlement, launched from the direction of Bakhmut (former Artyomovsk).
It should be noted that the United States has already transferred 8 HIMARS launchers to Ukraine, and this is not counting similar systems that Kyiv received from other allies. This was recently told to the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal by the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov.
The Russians are defenseless against them and very worried. The Russian Federation no longer has the strength to advance on more than one sector of the front. The arrival of HIMARS made it possible to accurately hit those targets that were previously impossible to reach because of the distance.
- the Ukrainian functionary boasted.
On July 8, it became known that US President Joe Biden signed a new $400 million military aid package for Kyiv. The press managed to find out the details. The specified package includes: 4 units of M142 and long-range ammunition for them, 1000 precision-guided 155-mm projectiles for self-propelled and towed artillery, tactical vehicles, "explosive ammunition" (possibly meaning mines, grenades and explosives), various spare parts and parts.
According to the Financial Times newspaper from London, Washington will give Kyiv ammunition for the Hymars with a range of up to 300 km. The ammunition for these MLRS previously sent by the Americans to the Ukrainians has a range of 70 km.
The Russian embassy in Washington is confident that the United States is deliberately dragging out the conflict in Ukraine, trying to prolong it at any cost, fighting to the last Ukrainian. Diplomats of the Russian Federation point out that by their actions the Americans contribute to the destruction of the population of Donbass by Kyiv, and any statements by the US authorities that the supplies are for "defensive purposes" are untenable.
At the same time, the British edition of The Times cited the words of former NATO commander Philip Breedlove. In his opinion, Ukraine can use American Harpoon anti-ship missiles to destroy the Crimean bridge.
The Crimean bridge is a legitimate target for Ukraine, since Russia was the first to show aggression and invade its territory
- says a retired US Air Force general.
At the same time, the adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Oleksiy Arestovich, in an interview on the YouTube channel "FEIGIN LIVE" (Mark Feigin is recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign media agent), answered the question of the presenter, that the Armed Forces of Ukraine would not rush to attack the Crimean bridge with transferred anti-ship missiles " Harpoon, but wait for the arrival of a sufficient amount of long-range ammunition for HIMARS. He emphasized that it is better to use Harpoons for their intended purpose, i.e. against Russian ships.