First American M777 Howitzer Guns Arrive at Ukraine Border

New shipments of US weapons began to arrive at the borders of Ukraine to be delivered to the army of that country, a senior Pentagon official said Monday.

“Four flights arrived from the United States yesterday to the region, with various teamsannounced the official who requested anonymity.

A fifth flight should arrive in the next 24 hours“which will make five flights in the same number of days” since the president Joe Biden announced on Wednesday a new military aid of 800 million dollars for Ukraine, he stressed.

In addition, US soldiers deployed on NATO’s eastern front since the beginning of the Russian invasion will begin “in the next few days” to train Ukrainian soldiers in the gun handling M777 Howitzerthe state-of-the-art artillery pieces that the United States first delivered to the Ukrainian army.

Although its handling is not fundamentally different from the one known to the Ukrainian army, these guns use 155mm shells, used by NATO countries, while Ukraine only has 152mm shells, manufactured by Russia.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the first shipment had arrived 48 hours after Biden authorized the delivery of aid, at an “unprecedented speed”.

Kirby also said that soldiers deployed on the eastern flank of NATO territory Since the beginning of the invasion of Moscow they will begin “in the next few days” to train Ukrainian soldiers in the handling of Howitzers, which are the latest generation of this weapon.

Nevertheless, training will take place outside of Ukraine, Kirby stressed. “It will be a small number of Ukrainians who will be trained on the Howitzers, and then they will be reintroduced to their country to train their colleagues.”

For their part, the Russian forces begin to feel the effect of the sanctions on their arms supply, particularly guided missiles, said the senior US Defense Ministry official.

The sanctions “had an effect on the ability of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to resupply and re-equip, in particular as regards the components of its precision-guided missiles and systems,” he said.

On the other hand, we know that they strive to replenish themselves with their own industry and they wonder how fast and to what degree they can accelerate their weapons production,” he added. “Sanctions have an effect on their ability to do so.”

Weapons most modern use electronic chips whose main producers are Taiwan and South Korea, two countries allied with the United States that stopped exporting these products to Russia in line with the sanctions decreed against that country for the invasion of Ukraine.