MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/. The United States controls the Kiev regime’s strikes by HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) to avoid expending rockets on false targets, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the chief council of the Zaporozhye Region military-civilian administration told TASS on Wednesday.
Ukrainian intelligence official Vadim Skibitsky said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph newspaper on Tuesday that Ukraine held consultations with the United States before using HIMARS weapons and Washington had an opportunity to cancel strikes, if it was dissatisfied with the intended target.
"Specifically, decisions on strikes and the operational situation are made by the Britons while the Americans are placed a bit lower, followed by the Canadians and then the Poles - this is how the military setup is arranged. As for HIMARS, these are the United States and Britain and the same is true about M777 howitzers - this is their issue," Rogov said.
"GPS guidance takes place directly under the US control to avoid false targets and this is because the Americans do not trust the Ukrainian military to prevent expending rockets and rocket hits on inappropriate targets. Each rocket costs over $150,000. Instead of solving internal problems in the post-Ukrainian space, they deliver strikes that cost about $2 million and, nonetheless, the regime [of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky] spends money on that instead of resolving problems," the Zaporozhye official stressed.
Rogov earlier said that the Ukrainian military used the American "scorched-earth" tactic in its bombardments of the Zaporozhye Region from HIMARS rocket systems. The Kiev regime also targeted critical civilian infrastructure facilities in its shelling attacks, he said.
Head of the Russian delegation at the Vienna talks on military security and arms control Konstantin Gavrilov said on July 27 that the Kiev regime’s use of American multiple launch rocket systems or other NATO long-range guns against Russian territory would lead to far-reaching consequences.
Head of the Ukrainian presidential office Andrey Yermak said on July 24 that following the results of a meeting with Ukraine’s President Vladimir Zelensky, US Congressmen announced plans to deliver up to 30 HIMARS and other multiple rocket launchers to the Kiev regime.