Ukrainian military officials have revealed that the US is helping the war-torn nation carry out missile strikes by providing detailed coordinates.
Speaking to The Washington Post, the defense sources said that the Ukrainian Army knows exactly where to fire its missiles due to intelligence obtained from US military personnel stationed elsewhere in Europe.
The coordinates are specifically for strikes using the HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) and the M270 multiple-launch rocket systems.
A senior US official told the outlet that providing coordinates to Ukrainian forces is only to ensure the accuracy of the strikes and conserve “limited supplies” of ammunition.
Ukrainian missile operators first determine which targets they want to hit, then send the request to the senior command, which passes the information to American partners for more accurate coordinates.
The sources clarified that Kyiv does not always expect the US to respond and that its ally only acts in an “exclusively advisory” role.
Battlefield Breakthrough
The US-made HIMARS weapon system has been credited with neutralizing various Russian military assets.
This is amid reports that Washington intentionally decreased the range of the system to prevent Ukraine from firing it into Russian territory.
In July last year, Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov claimed that the rocket system destroyed 50 Russian ammunition depots since its initial deployment.
He also disclosed that the HIMARS was “precise” in targeting a Russian command center for aerial operations.