US announces $775m in weapons support for Ukraine

The United States has announced another tranche of weapons for Ukraine - this one totalling $775m, News.az reports citing UNIAN.

The package includes more High Speed Anti Radiation Missiles (HARMs) for attack on Russian surface-to-air missile radar systems, along with early warning radar facilities.

The missiles are being integrated into existing Ukrainian aircraft - Mig-29s - not an easy task because they are Russian-built with very different avionics systems compared to Western jets. But war tends to accelerate development progress, so perhaps it is no surprise that this has been achieved by Ukraine.

Ground-launched anti-armour capability gets a boost to Kyiv, too. For the first time, 1,500 TOW missiles - Tube-Launched, Optically Tracked, Wire-Guided missiles - are being supplied. The Pentagon has also committed to a steady flow of precision-guided munitions for HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) too.

Further down the announcement is reference to "demolition munitions". These too have been supplied before in the shape of C-4, a malleable explosive that’s been around for more than 60 years.

With rumours of Ukrainian special operations responsible for at least some of the explosions at Russian-occupied military bases in Crimea, this is interesting.

Russia has said sabotage was carried out, without offering any further explanation about what happened at the sites.

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