![\"US](\"https:\/\/cdni.russiatoday.com\/files\/2022.07\/xxs\/62d8306620302731e045c088.jpg\")
<\/picture><\/div>\nRT.com<\/p>\n
Ukraine will receive four more high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) from Washington as part of the next security assistance package, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cLater this week, we\u2019ll roll out our next presidential drawdown package of weapons, ammunition and equipment for Ukraine,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Austin said while hosting a virtual meeting of the US-led Ukraine Contact Group.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will include four more HIMARS advanced rocket systems, which the Ukrainians have been using so effectively and which have made such a difference on the battlefield. And it will include more rounds of MLRS and artillery ammunition,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he added.<\/p>\n According to the Pentagon, once delivered, the new package will bring the total number of HIMARS in Ukraine\u2019s possession to 16.<\/p>\n Last Friday, Ukraine\u2019s defense minister, Alexey Reznikov, told the Financial Times that Kiev was confident the West would send more aid, including 300km-range munitions for the HIMARS. He described the American-made rocket systems as a game-changer.<\/p>\n HIMARS can fire guided rockets at a range of up to 80km but can also deploy tactical ballistic missiles a distance of up to 300km. Washington previously said it would not supply Ukraine with missiles having a range of 300km out of fear they could be used to strike Russian territory, thus greatly escalating the conflict between Kiev and Moscow.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a step-by-step movement. We give them proof that we can use it with precision and sophistication and we get more, and longer range,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Reznikov stated.<\/p>\n However, according to the spokesman for the army of the Donetsk People\u2019s Republic (DPR), Eduard Basurin, Ukrainian forces may have already received 300km-range HIMARS missiles. DPR troops have found pieces of munitions with a range of 110km to 120km, which meant that Kiev could have the 300km missiles as well, Basurin posited in an interview with Russia\u2019s Rossiya 1 TV channel on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said today the West\u2019s persistence in pumping Ukraine with long-range weapons, including the HIMARS, has already made Moscow reconsider the goals of its military operation in the neighboring country. They now go beyond Donbass and include several other Ukrainian regions, the minister\u00a0explained<\/a>\u00a0in an interview with RT and Sputnik.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n