Moscow-STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT. The first shipments of a new U.S. military aid package have arrived at Ukraine’s borders to be handed over in its fight against the Russian invasion, a senior Pentagon official said Monday. The $800-million tranche of equipment for Ukraine includes 18 155mm howitzers for the first time, as well as 40,000 artillery rounds, 200 M113 armored personnel carriers, 11 Mi-17 helicopters and 100 armored multi-purpose vehicles.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby on Monday said the first shipment had arrived 48 hours after President Joe Biden authorized the aid delivery, an “unprecedented speed.” Kirby also said that soldiers deployed on the eastern flank of NATO territory since the start of Moscow’s invasion will begin “in the next several days” to train Ukrainian soldiers to handle the howitzers, which are the latest generation of that weapon.
Russian Defense Ministry Spokesperson Igor Konashenkov on Monday claimed that Russia had destroyed a large depot of foreign weapons recently delivered to Ukraine near the western city of Lviv. Konashenkov said the Russian airstrikes succeeded in destroying the weapons sent by Ukraine’s allies such as the United States and the European Union. In addition, Russia also said it had destroyed an ammunition building in the Kyiv region. In total there are 16 military sites that Russia has destroyed.
Hamianin said Russian soldiers in the Black Sea had suffered significant losses. He said the 126th Coast Guard Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet had suffered a 75 percent casualty as 158 men were killed, 500 were injured, and 70 went missing. Hamianin said a large number of soldiers from the brigade made reports refusing to participate in the Russian invasion’s so-called “special operations.”
Furthermore, he said Ukrainian soldiers in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions withstood seven hostile strikes on the 55th day of the Russian invasion. He added the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Joint Air Forces had hit seven aerial targets the day before: one aircraft, four UAVs (Unmanned aerial vehicles), and two cruise missiles.
Hamianin said World War III had begun, putting the world, especially Ukraine, at extremely severe and horrible conditions. He said the world was forced to confront food, health service, and energy shortages as a result of the Russian invasion. He said Russia is totally responsible for the current state of affairs and that it has nothing to do with Western or Eastern countries, Ukraine, or any other country in the world.
