Ukraine Pushing Hard To Get Rockets With 300km Range From US

The Zelensky government is pushing hard for the US to begin providing longer-range missiles for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) recently provided to Ukrainian forces. Currently US-supplied rockets are believed to have a range of up to 50km or 70km.

This week a senior Ukrainian lawmaker, Fedir Venislavskyi, told national media that Ukraine is seeking rockets that can hit targets up to 300km away (or almost 190 miles), but the Biden administration has not agreed yet.

“At all levels, our state is negotiating with U.S. representatives about the need to provide us with longer-range missiles for HIMARS. Currently, we have up to 70 km, and in general, these missiles of various modifications are able to hit enemy objects at a greater depth. Therefore, I think that there is every chance to break through this and get long-range missiles,” the politician said.

Four more HIMARS have in the last weeks been transferred to Ukraine, but the total number is believed to remain less than a dozen, which Kiev has called a “game changer”. France24 has also reported on Ukraine’s hard lobbying efforts in search of longer range missiles:

Kyiv is meanwhile pressuring Washington for ATACMS missiles which can be launched by the Himars and have a 300-kilometer range.

“At all levels, our authorities are negotiating with US representatives regarding the need to provide us with longer-range Himars missiles,” Fedir Venislavskyi, a senior Ukrainian lawmaker, said on Wednesday.

President Volodymyr Zelensky days ago said in a briefing, “The occupiers have already felt very well what modern artillery is. They will not have a safe rear anywhere on our land.”

Rumors have persisted that Washington has agreed to send the longer range rockets, but there’s been no definitive confirmation coming from the US administration or Pentagon as yet:

WONDER WEAPONS EN ROUTE: Ukraine’s Minister of Defense announced that Kyiv is expecting to receive HIMARS with a range of 300 KM

— The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) July 15, 2022

There are also emerging unconfirmed reports that Russia may have captured a US-supplied HIMARS system…

AMERICAN HIMARS MLRS ROCKET LAUNCHER APPEARED AT THE DISPOSAL OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY – LOCAL MEDIA

— First Squawk (@FirstSquawk) July 15, 2022

Yet by all accounts Russian artillery and missile barrages have been steady and superior along front lines in the Donbas. An array of conflicting media reports say one side or the other is suffering low morale, exhaustion, and lack of enough military supplies. Western media constantly suggests it’s the Russians suffering fatigue among troops. 

But the alarm out of Kiev over not having enough long range rockets or artillery suggests it’s the Ukrainian forces currently under greater pressure.