© TASS

The US authorities keep pouring heavy weapons into Ukraine, including eight HIMARS multiple rocket launcher systems (MLRS). Another four are expected to be shipped in the nearest future. However, the Kiev regime can’t get enough of US and NATO assistance. In his article for The Washington Post, American military historian Max Booth admitted that the odds were in favor of Russia and urged the Biden administration to send an additional 60 MLRS HIMARS to the Ukrainian army and train its soldiers to operate those.

In turn, former US Deputy Secretary of Defense Michael Vickers, who once played a key part in supplying arms to Afghanistan, said Ukraine needed at least 60, and perhaps as many as 100, HIMARS or other multiple-launch rocket systems to win the artillery battle.

Notably, the latter used this very type of heavy weapons to inflict its barbaric blow against Novaya Kakhovka, one of the major Kherson region cities, on July 11. The attack involved US satellite data, namely Worldview-2. Rockets hit warehouses with explosive fertilizers, killing and injuring people, causing large-scale destruction in the downtown area. The infrastructure destroyed was purely civilian, as well as the death toll, with not a single military victim reported.

In this regard, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said the HIMARS shelling of Novaya Kakhovka has become a direct consequence of Washington's heavy weapons supplies to Kiev. This kind of "strikes against civilian targets can only cause strong condemnation," Polyansky stressed.

The incident occurred amid claims by the Ukrainian authorities about a counteroffensive to retake the country’s southern part. Pundits consider such plans an act of terrorism, if implemented, as confirmed by attacks both on Novaya Kakhovka and outside the Zaporozhye NPP. In the first instance, the Kiev regime and the US administration should be held liable for attacks on peaceful cities, experts say, with the International Criminal Court in The Hague to provide a legal evaluation of those obvious crimes against humanity. The weapon used to hit the warehouses in Novaya Kakhovka does not really matter, as HIMARS has actually turned into a weapon of terror.

Western weaponry coming to Ukraine ends up in the hands of a terrorist Kiev regime, whether it be American HIMARS or French CAESAR used against Donetsk within days after being handed over to the Ukrainian armed forced. They killed civilians, destroyed residential buildings and social infrastructure of the Donbass cities. Little effort is required to collect evidence here – remnants of American and French shells can be found everywhere. A similar pattern is observed in the Black Sea coastal area.

War correspondents report that each HIMARS is accompanied by a Western specialist, although US seeks to avoid having its military at missile launch sites over death risks. It is no mystery that Western military personnel are directly involved in the Ukrainian conflict. British newspapers have repeatedly mentioned their country’s tactical forces operating on the ground and instructing the Ukrainian army.

As revealed by the HIMARS blow on Novaya Kakhovka, the allied forces need to move the front line away from cities and territories liberated. For this very reason Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov previously stated that the depth of the advance of Russian troops in Ukraine would directly depend on the capacity of Western weapons supplied to Kiev. The West leaves Russia little choice but to move the Ukrainian military away from the Russian borders and from the Donbass.

The United States is known to have been supplying cutting-edge weaponry to Ukraine for several months. At the moment, Washington has transferred over $6.1 billion worth of weapons to Kiev. But this gradually began to give cause for concern in Washington itself. The most serious risk discussed in US military circles is provoking a direct response from Moscow. President Joe Biden insists that escalation risks are thoroughly assessed, but Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly made it clear that arms supplies to Kiev by the American side won’t stay unrated or unanswered.

In the long term, loose grip over tens of thousands of small arms, heavy weapons and military equipment transferred to Ukraine will become a problem to linger on further into the post-war period. Even as we speak, risks are high that a large portion of weapons will simply get lost in the chaos of war or dissolved in the black market to end up in the hands of international terrorists.

Recently, this fact was even highlighted by The Washington Times. The outlet writes that multibillion-dollar aid to Ukraine is not a military strategy and will hardly manage to turn the tide of Russia’s military operation. For which reason the United States may stop ammunition supplies to the Ukrainian side. Perhaps this will really happen one day, but so far, the Congress has approved another $23 billion tranche, which is about a half of Ukraine's annual budget.

These multibillion-dollar aid packages may backlash against Washington itself. China’s Global Times newspaper called those a shot in US own foot, while noting that the entire American strategy may backfire on the country itself. "Although US President Joe Biden vowed to stand with Ukraine for ‘as long as it takes,’ war and Ukraine fatigue has been witnessed in the US and across many of its Western allies, with the emergence of energy and food crises, soaring inflation and massive spending on Ukraine," Global Times writes.

And we can't but agree with the Chinese outlet.