The United States continues to supply Ukraine with weapons, but with some restrictions. The US has promised to send older models of the M1 Abrams tank to Ukraine starting in the fall, but these tanks will not have secret armor made of depleted uranium. Ukrainian forces have received US-made M777 howitzers without GPS navigation or onboard computers, but the Ukrainian army quickly found a solution and installed its own software on the howitzers. The US-made HIMARS multiple launchers supplied to Ukraine have not been equipped with more powerful missiles with a range of over 300 kilometers to “reduce the risk of an escalation of the war with Moscow.”
The US only supplies Ukraine with modified versions of certain weapons due to export rules and concerns that if a tank or weapon is captured and analyzed by the Russians, this could expose some of the US’ advanced technologies. However, Ukrainian military experts do not see any problem with using Western weapons with limitations, as they have their own systems and rely on their own software.
The US expert, Stephen Blank, believes that Russia is destroying Ukraine and that the US should not be overly cautious in supplying arms to Ukraine as this sends the wrong signal to Moscow. It remains to be seen whether the weapons provided by the US and Europe will help Ukraine to regain the territories currently under Russian occupation, or whether they will lead to a further escalation of the conflict.