Analyst sees shift in Biden's additional military aid to Ukraine
STORY: John Spencer, a retired U.S. Army major and expert on urban warfare at the Madison Policy Forum think tank, said he was excited to see that the United States was sending artillery and artillery rounds.
“In this phase, I think it is a shift in policy, say, absolutely we recognize that Ukraine needs the ability to fight Russia in the open and prevent basically their loss in Eastern Ukraine, right?... I think this is a shift in policy and recognizing the tools that are needed -- that's different, for sure,” he told Reuters.
The new security assistance package, according to the Defense Department, includes 11 Mi-17 helicopters that had been earmarked for Afghanistan before the U.S.-backed government collapsed and 18 155mm howitzers, along with counter-artillery radars and 200 armored personnel carriers.
“A Howitzer is a very large artillery round that when it impacts, it can really hurt a military formation even inside of a tank...And that's what Ukrainians need at this moment. They need to destroy the Russian convoys before they even get to the cities or near to locations they want to take,” Spencer said.
This was the first time howitzers have been provided to Ukraine by the United States.
