US to ship $400mn more in arms, advanced artillery to Ukraine

US President Joe Biden has signed off a new weapons shipment worth $400 million for Ukraine that includes four additional high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) and more ammunition.

The additional HIMARS would bring the total number of these systems to 12, a senior US military official said Friday on condition of anonymity.

The new weapons package for Ukraine is meant to boost Kiev’s ability to confront heavy pounding by Russian artillery, according to local press reports.

"Ukraine has now been successfully striking Russian locations in Ukraine, deeper behind the front lines and disrupting Russia's ability to conduct that artillery operation," said the official.

He further insisted that all the HIMARS supplied to Kiev forces were accounted for, rejecting an announcement earlier this week by Russia’s Defense Ministry that it had destroyed two HIMARS systems and their ammunition depots in eastern Ukraine.

Russia claims destroyed two US-supplied advanced missile systems in Ukraine

Russia claims it has destroyed two US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) missile launchers in eastern Ukraine.

The approval of the newest weapons shipment to Ukraine – which brings the total US military aid to Kiev to nearly $7.3 billion since February -- also includes more precise ammunition for howitzer artillery systems, which are available to American military forces but had not been previously supplied to Ukraine.

The development comes as the US and its mostly European allies continue to supply Ukraine with increasingly sophisticated arms. Washington, meanwhile, has reportedly cautioned Kiev about the risk of further escalating the conflict if it uses the new artillery system to strike deep inside Russia.

Washington began providing the key precision rocket weapon system to Ukraine last month after receiving assurances from Kiev that it would not use them to strike targets inside the Russian territory.

So far, Kiev has not used HIMARS systems to strike targets outside of Ukraine, the US official further claimed.

The approval of the arms shipment also came a day after a bipartisan pair of US war hawks - Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal - met with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, who implored the lawmakers for more weapons.

US war hawks visit Ukraine, meet Zelensky

A bipartisan pair of US war hawks, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal, on Thursday met with Ukraine

Blumenthal and Graham have been two of the most ardently anti-Russia voices in the US Congress.

The Ukrainian president called on the two to push the Biden administration to supply Ukraine with air defense systems.

Thousands of people have been killed across Ukraine and millions displaced since Russia began its special military operation in the country which Moscow said was intended to disarm and “denazify” Ukraine after Kiev and its US-led Western sponsors failed to respond to Russia’s demand for security guarantees amid Kiev’s plans to join the NATO military alliance.

Since the operation began in February 24, Russian forces have taken control of a big chunk of territory across Ukraine's southern flank above Crimea. Russia is slowly pushing Ukrainian forces out of two independence-seeking regions east of the country.

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