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HIMARS and howitzers: West helps Ukraine with key weaponry

FILE - An anti-aircraft cannon tank "Gepard 1A2" during an exercise of the German army on the training area in Munster, Germany, June 15, 2009. Germany has promised to supply Ukraine with 30 Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, but they are yet to arrive. (AP Photo/Joerg Sarbach, File) FILE - A Ukrainian soldier flashes the victory sign atop a tank in Donetsk region, Ukraine, June 20, 2022. Ukraine has asked the West to provide it with armor to help replenish its heavy battlefield losses. The country has reportedly received about 300 Soviet-built T-72 tanks from Poland and the Czech Republic and already used them in combat. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File) FILE - A Ukrainian Territorial Defence Forces member holds an anti-tank weapon on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 9, 2022. The deliveries of Western weapons have been crucial for Ukraine's efforts to fend off Russian attacks in the country's eastern industrial heartland of Donbas. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File) FILE - A Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), drone capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations is seen at the Siauliai military air force base some 230 km (144 miles) east of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, July 1, 2022. Ukraine has extensively used its inventory of Turkish-made Bayraktar TB-2 laser-guided, bomb-dropping drones to target Russian troops convoys and supply columns. The deliveries of Western arms have been crucial for Ukraine’s efforts to fend off Russian attacks in the nearly 5-month-old war. (Lithuanian Ministry of National Defense via AP, File) FILE - A Ukrainian serviceman fires an NLAW anti-tank weapon during an exercise in the Joint Forces Operation, in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Feb. 15, 2022. The deliveries of Western arms have been crucial for Ukraine’s efforts to fend off Russian attacks in the nearly 5-month-old war. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File) FILE - A launch truck fires the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) produced by Lockheed Martin during combat training in the high desert of the Yakima Training Center, Washington in May 23, 2011. The HIMARS systems supplied by the U.S. and similar M270 provided by Britain have significantly bolstered the Ukrainian army's precision strike capability. The deliveries of Western arms have been crucial for Ukraine's efforts to fend off Russian attacks in the nearly 5-month-old war. (Tony Overman/The Olympian via AP, File) FILE - Ukrainian soldiers fire at Russian positions from a U.S.-supplied M777 howitzer in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, June 18, 2022. The deliveries of Western weapons have been crucial for Ukraine's efforts to fend off Russian attacks in the country's eastern industrial heartland of Donbas. The Western howitzers have some advantages compared to older Soviet-designed systems in the Russian and Ukrainian arsenals, but they require time for the Ukrainian crews to train how to operate them and their wide assortment poses obvious logistical challenges. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File) FILE - A Ukrainian MIG-29 fighter jet is parked at the Vasilkov air base outside outside Kiev, Ukraine, Nov. 23, 2016. Ukraine has urged Western allies to provide it with warplanes to help challenge the Russian air superiority, but the U.S. and its allies have been reluctant to give Ukraine fighter jets, fearing to provoke Moscow. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File) FILE - Ukrainian servicemen unpack Javelin anti-tank missiles, delivered as part of the United States of America's security assistance to Ukraine, at the Boryspil airport, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 11, 2022. The deliveries of Western weapons have been crucial for Ukraine's efforts to fend off Russian attacks in the country's eastern industrial heartland of Donbas. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File) FILE - Ukrainian servicemen fire at Russian positions from a U.S.- supplied M777 howitzer in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, July 14, 2022. The deliveries of Western weapons have been crucial for Ukraine's efforts to fend off Russian attacks in the country's eastern industrial heartland of Donbas. The Western howitzers have some advantages compared to older Soviet-designed systems in the Russian and Ukrainian arsenals, but they require time for the Ukrainian crews to train how to operate them and their wide assortment poses obvious logistical challenges. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)