Ukrainian Armed Forces use more projectiles for a day than US companies can produce in a month. Sergiy Zgurets column

A new package of military aid from the United States

On the background of the successful advance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the East and the South, the United States allocated another package of military aid to Ukrainian Armed Forces in the amount of $625 million. This package provides for the shipment of weapons that are withdrawn from the current stocks of the American army, that is, these weapons should arrive in Ukraine in the near future. First of all, these are four HIMARS launchers.  We will now have a total of 20 wheeled HIMARS and 10 tracked MLRS, for a total of 30 launchers.  Let me remind you that only the first HIMARS forced Russians to defense in certain areas of the front. Now we will have much more long-range GMLRS projectile launch systems, even twice as many. These GMLRS shells can destroy Russian targets at a distance of 80 km, and ATACMS ballistic missiles are not yet in this package.

In my opinion, it is only a matter of time, but Pentagon explains the pause with the delay in the supply of ATACMS as follows: "We believe that the existing capabilities of GMLRS and HIMARS missiles, which we provide under this package, are quite sufficient for the Ukrainian soldiers to destroy the overwhelming the number of targets on the battlefield, including in Crimea". Such an indicative quote.

In addition, M777 and M109 howitzers of various calibers are transferred. One thousand munitions for remote mining, which allow you to quickly lay an anti-tank minefield and stop the enemy's armored offensive.  The package also includes 500 high-precision Excalibur ammunition, which can hit targets at a distance of more than 40 km with the first shot. Also 200 MaxxPro armored vehicles, which we desperately need.

This entire package, according to the Pentagon, is designed with the immediate needs of the armed forces in mind. After all, the briefing at the Pentagon, where the details of this package were discussed, was actually difficult for its organizers, because they asked difficult questions that concern us.  They asked, in addition to ATACMS, when there will be new tanks for the Armed Forces.  To this, the press secretary of the Pentagon, Brigadier General Pat Ryder, replied that we clearly see Ukraine's need for tanks, but it is better for Ukraine if we could immediately transfer samples of Soviet weapons that Ukrainians can repair and maintain.  This means that all our talk about Leopard and Abrams is focused on getting the network ready to service these tanks for now, but the first steps are already being taken, albeit imperceptibly. It is about the fact that we have already been given a significant number of automobile trawls capable of transporting heavy tanks, and this is the first signal on the way to receiving Western samples of heavy armored vehicles.

Pentagon also asked whether Ukraine would have enough ammunition supplied by the United States for further hostilities. The dynamics here are such that today, if you take into account the last package of military aid, the USA has supplied us with about 900,000 155 mm ammunition, which is more than we currently have in stock for the Soviet 152 mm caliber. In a day, on the most intensive days, the Armed Forces use more projectiles than the enterprises of the US defense-industrial complex can produce in a month. The rate of production of ammunition in the USA is now 15 thousand ammunition per month. To this question, the Pentagon said that there is no threat of ammunition starvation for the Armed Forces and there will not be. This was explained by the fact that we do see very high rates of ammunition consumption, but you also see an incredibly high operational tempo on the battlefield, because the Ukrainians are successfully advancing. Now, the Pentagon said, we are investing in the production of ammunition, it is growing and our allies are also increasing production. So, later on, we will get a steady pace of ammunition production both for ourselves and for the Ukrainians, as the Pentagon said.

And they also said that the US and NATO countries have taken a leading role in providing Ukrainian soldiers with winter equipment, and we are making sure that the Ukrainian army has everything necessary for this period, because the supply of warm equipment is no less important than ammunition for the battlefield. Such conclusions were drawn in the Pentagon, and they are correct. By the way, Pat Ryder said that the Ukrainians will have warm clothes, and as for the Russians, he is not at all sure about the readiness of the Russian troops to conduct combat operations in winter. And this is so, because Russian soldiers have winter uniforms, and that's good.

Iranian drones and the need to counter Russian new weapons

There was a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, where they noted, on the one hand, the need for measures related to the de-occupation of territories, and also said about the need to counter the new types of weapons that Russians began to use. We are talking about Iranian-made Shahed 136 drones.