Reference News Network, February 1 report - The Russian newspaper "Kommersant" published an article on January 28 with the title "Why is the US Resuming Supply of the HIMARS?" authored by Boris Deryelyevsky. The full text is as follows:

From January 24 to 25, the Russian city of Belgorod suffered an unprecedented attack by Ukrainian forces. According to a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Russian air defense forces successfully intercepted 31 HIMARS rockets and 68 large drones within 24 hours. Considering that the unit price of M30 and M31 rockets is approximately $170,000, the Ukrainian forces spent over $5 million in just 24 hours. However, the key issue is not just the cost. Over the past year, the Ukrainian military had only sporadically used such weapons, but the number of weapons consumed in one day exceeded the total for several months before.

In recent days, the frequency of Ukrainian use of U.S.-made rocket systems has significantly increased. On January 16 and 20, the Russian "Rubicon" unmanned system unit destroyed multiple HIMARS systems within the "Donetsk People's Republic".

All of this indicates that the United States has resumed supplying HIMARS ammunition to Ukraine, and the quantity even exceeds the supply during the Biden era, when the Ukrainian military did not waste it so much.

The Polish city of Rzeszów is the main logistics hub for NATO supplies to Ukraine. Within three days, a total of 10 flights from NATO countries unloaded cargo there. Two of them came from the United States, and they may have included HIMARS ammunition.

The HIMARS completely does not fit the definition of "defensive weapons." If the White House spokesperson claims that the U.S. government is fully committed to promoting a ceasefire and that the long-awaited peace is imminent, why is the United States resuming the supply of such weapons now?

"We are only selling weapons to NATO, and the specific use is decided by NATO itself," Trump's rhetoric is weak. First of all, without Washington's consent, NATO countries could not transfer weapons purchased from the United States to a third party.

Moreover, without the involvement of the United States, the Ukrainian military would be unable to use these rocket systems. There are American soldiers in the HIMARS gun crews, who are responsible for receiving target instructions and loading flight data. The actual use of the HIMARS is planned and authorized by the command post under the U.S. military headquarters in Germany. Valery Zaluzhnyi, the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian military, admitted that this command post not only plans the use of HIMARS rockets but also leads all Ukrainian military operations.

At a time when the situation on the Ukrainian front lines is deteriorating, the United States' resumption of HIMARS supplies will significantly weaken Kyiv's negotiating position.

Based on the intensity of HIMARS usage, the U.S. large-scale supply of HIMARS aims to prevent or at least delay the Russian advance. Washington has obvious interests in this. First, there is no need to persuade Zelenskyy to make new, more difficult concessions. Second, the possibility of establishing a buffer zone dominated by the U.S. becomes greater.

But according to this logic, it cannot explain the Ukrainian attack on Belgorod. The Ukrainian strikes focused on the city's energy infrastructure, aiming to cause widespread power outages, but this has little impact on the frontline situation, as there are almost no military production facilities here.

Rodion Miroshnik, Russia's ambassador at large for issues related to the crimes of the Kiev regime, believes that Kyiv and the West aim to sabotage talks held in the UAE through the above attacks. But actually, what the United States wants is not to sabotage the talks, but to lead the talks in the direction they want, i.e., to force Russia into an "energy ceasefire." Under conditions favorable to the West, this could become a step toward freezing combat operations.

The British Financial Times reported that U.S. special envoy Witkov tried to promote the idea of an "energy ceasefire" in Moscow but failed. After that, the United States provided the Ukrainian military with rockets to strike Belgorod, hoping to force Russia to make concessions by causing widespread power outages in Belgorod. (Translated by Li Ran)

Original: toutiao.com/article/7601785592703189556/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author alone.