WASHINGTON, June 2. /TASS/. The US is giving Ukraine four High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems that have been pre-positioned in Europe to ensure their swift handover to Kiev, Colin Kahl, undersecretary of defense for policy, told reporters at the Pentagon.
"The Department of Defense pre-positioned the HIMARS systems in Europe to ensure that they can rapidly be delivered to the Ukrainians," Kahl said. The first tranche will include four systems, he said.
Kahl said it would take about three weeks to train the Ukrainian forces on the use of the multiple launch rocket systems.
Ukraine assured the US that it will use the systems only for defensive purposes, the undersecretary said.
"These are critical capabilities to help the Ukrainians repel the Russian offensive in the east," Kahl said. "One such need is the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System I just mentioned that responds to Ukraine’s top priority ask.
"The Ukrainians have given us assurances they will use this system for defensive purposes only," the defense official said.
The US will regard any use of the HIMARS in Ukraine as defensive.
"Ukraine is defending their territory. Anything they are doing on the territory of Ukraine is defensive in this context," Kahl said. "The formal assurance is that they will not use these systems to target Russian territory."
"This particular assurance goes all the way to the top of the Ukrainian government to include President [of Ukraine Vladimir] Zelensky," the official said.
Kahl said the US is hoping the Ukrainians will live up to their assurances not to use HIMARS for striking Russia, but he didn’t say what the repercussions could be if those assurances are violated.