HIMARS and howitzers: West helps Ukraine with key weaponry

The message to U.S. lawmakers from Ukraine's first lady, delivered amid stark and graphic images of civilian bloodshed, couldn't have been clearer: After nearly five full months since Russia launched its invasion, Olena Zelenska said that her country needs more Western weapons.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent her to Washington to appeal directly to U.S. Congress for air defense systems.

The appeal Wednesday came as Russia suggested it plans to grab broader areas beyond the industrial region of eastern Ukraine known as the Donbas, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasizing that Moscow also claims the Kherson region and part of Zaporizhzhia and will “continuously and persistently” expand its gains elsewhere.

The billions of dollars in Western military assistance have been crucial for Ukraine's efforts to fend off Russian attacks, but officials in Kyiv say the numbers are still too small to turn the tide of the war.

A look at what Ukraine has received so far:

HIMARS ROCKET LAUNCHERS

The HIMARS systems supplied by the U.S. and similar M270s from Britain have significantly bolstered the Ukrainian military’s precision-strike capability.

The HIMARS and M270 have a longer range, a much better precision and a faster rate of fire compared with Soviet-designed Smerch, Uragan and Tornado multiple rocket launchers used by both Russia and Ukraine.

The truck-mounted HIMARS launchers fire GPS-guided missiles capable of hitting targets up to 80 kilometers (50 miles) away, a distance that puts them out of reach of most Russian artillery systems. The mobile launchers are hard for the enemy to spot and can quickly change position after firing to escape airstrikes.

The Ukrainian military so far has received a dozen HIMARS and several M270 systems, but it already has...