Caitlin Doornbos – Stars and Stripes April 20, 2022
The first U.S. 155mm howitzers from the latest $800 million military aid package for Ukraine have arrived in Europe as American troops there begin training Ukrainian forces on the artillery, a senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday.
Some – but not all – of the 18 howitzers and 40,000 artillery rounds that the U.S. is sending Ukraine as part of the aid authorized April 13 by President Joe Biden have arrived in Europe as the U.S. delivered another four flights of military aid during the past 24 hours, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In that time, U.S. troops have begun training some Ukrainian forces on how to use the American howitzers, the official said. The training is expected to last “about a week.”
The official declined to say where in Europe the training is happening, but said it is not occurring inside Ukraine. After completing the instruction, the Ukrainian troops will return to the fighting and teach other troops how to use the American howitzers.
The official declined to say whether the U.S. is sending its M777 or M198 155mm howitzers. Both American cannons are a different caliber than Ukraine’s 152mm Msta-B howitzers, but they share the same “basic outlines,” a defense official said Monday.
Both U.S. howitzers can fire up to about 4 rounds per minute, according to the Army.
The U.S. is sending the howitzers after Ukrainian officials asked for artillery, which is expected to play a significant role in Russia’s new focus on the flat, rolling plains of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, the official said.
“We knew from talking to Ukrainians that artillery was going to be a critical need because of the way the terrain lays,” the official said. “And so we saw early on the Russians were moving artillery [for the battle in the Donbas].”
Despite the latest delivery, the Pentagon might need to send more artillery in the future, the official said Wednesday. With 18 howitzers and 40,000 rounds on its way to Ukraine, it amounts to about 2,222 rounds per cannon.
“I think you can assume that should there be additional need in the future for more 155 artillery rounds, the United States will be right at the front of the line doing what we can to help get them there,” the official said.
Biden on Tuesday told reporters he planned to send Ukraine more artillery as he got off Air Force One after landing in New Hampshire for a public address.
Earlier that day, he also discussed “providing more ammunition and security assistance to Ukraine” on a video call with allies and partners, including the presidents of France, Poland, and Romania, White House Press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday.
Also on the call were the prime ministers of Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom and Italy, the chancellor of Germany, and European Commission, NATO and European Council leaders.
“Certainly, we will continue to provide them more ammunition as we will provide them more military assistance,” Psaki said. “There’s an ongoing discussion with the Ukrainians about what they need, with Congress about what we can provide.”
I’ve not read this article, but I’d like to say that Russia destroyed multiple NATO arms dumps in UKraine with hypersonic weapons a few days ago.
Russia is monitoring these movements and as they cross the border, the Russisns will hit these big guns, hopefully with US trainers on site, which was probably the case with the S300 system which actually arrived in the Dombas. This was the optimal time to strike, when trainers were likely with, or close to the weapon.
There is chatter that the UK might send some Challanger tanks, but the UK is so bankrupt, that maybe less than 30 are combat ready, and used for training, so how much £, & how long to get these tanks to UKraine, only for Russia to destroy them as they cross the border?
The MIC will make a fortune from this folly.
As I understand it, the remaining units of Ukraine military in the East are completely surrounded.
Um – how exactly ARE these trillions of dollars worth of high-tech weaponry going to get through for them to use in the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh places?
This is on top of all the ‘lethal weoponry’ that even the Western MSM admitted NATO had been supplying Ukraine with before the Military Operation even started.
And that didn’t prevent Russia from neutralising Ukrofascist Sea and Air Power in the first few hours.
Ooh, honestly, a cynical person would assume it is all an exercise in Weopon Production and Distribution as an end in itself.
By Western standards of critical thinking, or even any kind of thinking at all, even Biden in his senile state is one of the sharpest blades in the knife-box.
BoJo here in the UK wants to send British tanks, he and people like him are insane.
This clearly means that any US/UK presence in E. Europe are legitimate ( unlike Sleazy Joe ) targets..
Septic tanks training Ukrainians to use Howitzers.
hmmmm.
Will the protocols necessitate instruction to respect & accommodate Trans/bi/Lesbo /Omo aspects ?
Gay pride leaflets distributed among the misogynist Ukraines.
It might take more than a week, lol
We have to laugh, taking ‘news’ too seriously will damage your health.
Added up, taxpayer money that people DON’T REALLY HAVE, that’s 5 bil for the illegal and
totally immoral bribing to install a puppet gov, 13.6 bil to aid in the CONTINUED FARCE, 800 mil more, yet another 800 mil MORE that COULD have ACTUALLY saved a whole lot of people… PLUS INTEREST, prolly for ever, do “we” spend more killing people than Russia will on the whole “invasion”?
( Gotta be close now)
Do people even realize that the Brandon admin is blowing their money in the worst way?
NOPE
All this stuff is going to be traveling to the Donbas by road and rail then?
Russia taking possession rather than destroying this stuff might be the way to go.
Time for Ukrainians to ask themselves why the are fighting Russians. Life back in 2014, (the good old days) when they had a proper leader and not this Jew…
might not return for a long time if they are determined to fight.
Fight, fight for what?
F..CK USRAHELL; GET NUKED !
Notice the USA doesn’t provide Ukraine with anything of real offensive impactful value like tanks, jets, bombers, nukes, missiles or submarines so they can demolish the Commies…just minor insufficient defensive material like pistols, rifles, helmets, drones, howitzers etc..All done intentionally of course, because its all a setup to drag out the war to create a new Holodomor, as thousands/millions of Ukrainians get massacred & their towns/cities are razed..Why you ask? We’ll I’ll tell you.
The Jews didn’t like all these Azov youth camps popping up all over Ukraine since 2014–training a new generation of pro-white fascists. They knew it had to be stopped, otherwise they’d ultimately take over the State. Ergo…direct their Jewish-Communist agent Putin & Soviet Russia to invade & attempt to dismantle/destroy them, export their women, send the men to gulags etc…Remember, Soviet Russia is the base for the ‘World Without Nazism’ program–an anti-white Russian govt. agency headed by Putin’s close friend Boris Siegel (Jew)..
All part of the global Blow Bucks Better mighty lucre hurl. No MRE’s? (meals ready to eat)
No recipe for 155mm howitzers either, “we” just throw money!
I was surprised to hear just a few years ago the biggest killer of troops and civilians in any modern war are not bullets or bombs but artillery shells. So the US and west are supplying Ukraine the deadliest kit.
@Guy Reid-Brown: I’ve heard it said before: whatever administration occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Ave;
represents the moral and intellect of the population. Yes indeed; old doddering Joe represents this nation of moral reprobates and dimwits.
First: another $800m. Where is it coming from? That figure alone should cause every right thinking american to revolt.
Second: if the scumbag west is funneling this crap into the jew-craine then it’s taking part in the war isn’t it? And so, we are at war with russia. Congratulations, have a nice day, and all that.
Third: now that we’re at war with russia, you should be thinking about what will happen should the russians feel like extending the war farther than the jew-craine.
Nico x: the NWO, NATO objective isn’t to win against Russia in UKraine, because if the UKraine Nazis started winning, then Russia would use tactical nukes.
The purpose is to drag the SMO out for as long as possible, then conduct a long term Gladio style operation on the new Russian/breakaway republics border, or inside this territory.
All US military actions since WW2 have never won, or even wanted to win, and I exclude minor wins, because they were little more than training exercises.
Basically the US and NATO goes in, screws the place and its systems up, puts the country or area back 20/30/40 years, and the vaccum is filled is filled
with corrupted CIA muppets.
It goes a littler deeper than that Carl, you’re connecting some of the dots but not all of them…the Commies could drop a nuke now if they wanted to on Ukraine & NATO wouldn’t care or do anything about it…because they’re all in on it together & the objective of the ‘war’ is to prevent a fascist coup in Ukraine via the destruction of their society & to slaughter Aryan Ukrainians…remember what their Talmud teaches: “Kill the best Gentiles”.
@ Robert Purnell
“BoJo here in the UK wants to send British tanks, he and people like him are insane.”
Have you forgotten the “moon landings”, the 2 trillion $s that went missing on “9/11” and Iraq? Blowjob will take your money and SAY he’s sending tanks, but the money’ll be going straight to the carribean…
By the way, how many british people are aware of the hundreds of millions you’ve paid to ‘NASA’ to “explore space” (or whatever it’s supposed to be doing)? And it’s not just britain. No Astronauts Should Apply is, like ‘your’ country, a “multicultural” scam.
These howitzers, plus the four sent by Canada, will be tracked by Russia and then promptly destroyed.
The poster Nixo X is either a crazy or a troll farm.
Time to block that poster.
The poster Anonymouse is either crazy or a Commie.
Time to block that poster.
You see Rixon, the Commies like Anonymous are afraid of my posts which reveal the real motives behind the war…Jews & Commies don’t believe in ‘free speech’..