WASHINGTON: The United States will send another $450 million in military aid to Ukraine, including some additional medium-range rocket systems, to help push back Russian progress in the war, officials announced Thursday.
The latest package includes four High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, which will double the number they have now. All four were prepositioned in Europe, and training on those systems has already begun with the Ukrainian troops who will use them, said Marine Corps Lt. Col. Anton Semelroth, a Pentagon spokesman. The first four HIMARS that the US previously sent have already gone to the battlefield in Ukraine and are in the hands of troops there.
According to the Pentagon, the aid also includes 18 tactical vehicles that are used to tow howitzers, so the weapons can be moved around the battlefield, as well as 18 coastal and riverine patrol boats, thousands of machine guns, grenade launchers and rounds of ammunition, and some other equipment and spare parts.
The new aid comes just a week after the US announced it was sending $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine, and as the Russian military continues to slowly expand its control in the eastern Donbas region. Ukrainian leaders have persistently asked for the more advanced, precision rocket systems in order to better fight back against Russia.
The Russian military captured two villages in eastern Ukraine on Thursday and is fighting for control of a key highway in a campaign to cut supply lines and encircle frontline Ukrainian forces, according to British and Ukrainian military officials.
Russian forces have been bombarding the city of Sievierodonetsk for weeks with artillery and air raids, and fought the Ukrainian army house-to-house. The HIMARS gives Ukraine the ability to strike Russian forces and weapons from further away, making it less risky for Ukrainian troops. The systems are mounted on trucks, which carry a container with six precision-guided rockets that can travel about 45 miles (70 kilometers).
It took about three weeks to train Ukrainian troops on the first four HIMARS, before the systems were moved to the fight.
The aid is part of the $40 billion in security and economic assistance passed last month by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden. And it is the 13th package of military weapons and equipment committed to Ukraine since the war began.
Overall, since the war started in late February, the US has committed about $6.1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, including this latest package. The $450 million in equipment and weapons will be from drawdown authority, which means the Defense Department will take it all from its own stocks and ship it to Ukraine.
US sending advanced rocket systems, other aid to Ukraine
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US sending advanced rocket systems, other aid to Ukraine
- The latest package includes four High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, which will double the number they have now
- The HIMARS gives Ukraine the ability to strike Russian forces and weapons from further away, making it less risky for Ukrainian troops
‘Solar sheep’ help rural Australia go green
- The panels have had another surprising side effect: Because the grass is shielded from the elements, it’s of more consistent quality
DUBBO: Australian farmer Tom Warren’s solar panels look like any other — until you spot the dozens of sheep grazing and napping, helping the country transition to green energy and earning him a decent income while doing it.
More than 30,000 solar panels are deployed across approximately 50 hectares at Warren’s farm on the outskirts of Dubbo, around 400 kilometers west of Sydney.
The farmer and landowner has been working with renewables firm Neoen for more than a decade and said he was initially worried the panels would restrict his sheep’s grazing.
It quickly became clear those fears were unfounded.
“Normally they would seek out trees and camp under the trees, but you can see that the sheep are seeking out the shade of the panels,” he told AFP at the farm in Dubbo.
“So, it’s a much better environment for them as well.”
The farm produces about 20 megawatts of power, he said — a “substantial amount” of the energy needs of the local area.
While he can’t disclose how much he earns from the panels, he said he’s taking in much more than he would from just farming.
“The solar farm income is greater than I would ever get off agriculture in this area — regardless of whether I have sheep running under the panels or not,” he said.
The panels have had another surprising side effect: Because the grass is shielded from the elements, it’s of more consistent quality.
That, in turn, has improved the wool produced by the sheep.
“The wool is actually better and cleaner,” Warren said.
“All over, we’ve had about a 15 percent increase in the gross revenue coming from the sheep running under the solar farm.”
Fellow farmer Tony Inder, based around 50 kilometers south in the town of Wellington, agrees.
His flock is much larger — 6,000 sheep grazing on two plots of land covering 4,000 hectares.
