The Washington Post reported yesterday that Ukrainian officials say they require coordinates provided or confirmed by the United States and its allies for the vast majority of strikes using the HIMARS rocket launchers that the U.S. has supplied, “a previously undisclosed practice that reveals a deeper and more operationally active role for the Pentagon in the war.” This disclosure, the Post says, was confirmed by three senior Ukrainian officials and a senior U.S. official.
One senior Ukrainian official said Ukrainian forces almost never launch the advanced weapons without specific coordinates provided by U.S. military personnel from a base elsewhere in Europe. Ukrainian officials say this process should give Washington confidence about providing Kiev with longer-range weapons. If so, then the U.S. is backing Ukrainian strikes on civilians in the D.P.R., if the allegations by D.P.R. officials, that HIMARS are being used in those strikes, are also true; but the Post doesn’t address that, instead leaving the impression that the HIMARS are only used against military targets.
