Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov on July 19 spoke in an Atlantic Council Zoom “conversation” with former U.S. Ambassador to Kiev John Herbst, event on the ongoing war in Ukraine, and called on Western countries to give more and more weapons to the embattled country. “Russia can definitely be defeated,” he claimed; “Ukraine has already shown how it can be done.” Reznikov said that Ukraine is using all the weapons they’re receiving, and encouraged countries and arms manufacturers to keep up the flow, including experimental systems, “We need weapons fast, and in sufficient quantities.” (https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/a-conversation-with-oleksii-reznikov/)
Referring to the HIMARS medium-range rockets Ukraine has received from the U.S., which so far are limited to an 80 km range, they have “significantly slowed down the Russian advance,” he said. Ukraine has received eight so far, with another four on the way this week; however the Russian military says they have destroyed 2 of those 8, and recent instructions by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to his field commanders emphasize the need to stop the Ukrainian strikes in Donbass, which are thought to come from the HIMARS.
Eight is far from enough, Reznikov argued. “Ukraine needs around 50 M142 HIMARS rocket artillery systems from the U.S. to hold back the advancing Russian military, and 100 of these truck-mounted launchers to conduct a counteroffensive.”
