Pentagon sends HIMARS to Alaska as Russia and China continue naval drills

The US military assets have rapidly been deployed to Alaska's Aleutian Islands in a “sudden show of force” which comes amid Russia and China's Ocean 2024 drills in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans, Business Insider reported.

The assets include the 11th Airborne Division’s long-range artillery, a HIMARS platoon from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington, communications equipment from Hawaii, and a target acquisition radar.

Although the Pentagon’s Press Secretary Patrick Ryder previously said that the Russia-China drills pose no threat to the US and other NATO countries, the recent deployment aims to “send a message to American adversaries.”

The Ocean 2024 exercises unite Russia, China, and 15 more countries as observers. At the opening ceremony, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the US is trying to maintain its global military and political dominance at all costs. The drills take place against the background of Washington’s ongoing attempts to militarize the Arctic region.

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Biden and Starmer take no decision on Ukraine’s long-range strikes against Russia

US President Joe Biden and British PM Keir Starmer have seemingly delayed a decision to allow Ukraine to conduct deep strikes into Russian territory with long-range missiles, including Storm Shadow, a plea Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly floated.

Referring to his “productive” talks with Biden in Washington, Starmer said it "wasn't a meeting about a particular capability" pertaining to the UK-made Storm Shadow missiles. He also added that both leaders would soon discuss the plan at the UN General Assembly in New York.

The Times has meanwhile cited an unnamed British defense source as saying that the Ukrainian Army faces problems operating Storm Shadow missiles as they need either a GPS signal or cartographic data from the US military to guide them, but Russian electronic warfare systems successfully jam GPS.

“Russian electronic warfare has rendered GPS useless. They jam it. So it has to use another type of data set instead, which is American owned,” the source said. That is another reason why Kiev desperately seeks US official approval to use the weapons on Russian territory.

The Biden-Starmer talks came after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Western nations not to let Ukraine fire long-range missiles at Russia. Putin stressed that such a move would represent NATO, the US and European countries’ "direct participation" in the Ukraine conflict.

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At least 270,000 assault rifles, grenade launchers and machine guns reported ‘missing’ in Ukraine

Over 270,000 small arms, including 51,000 AK-74 assault rifles, have simply vanished in Ukraine since the escalation of the conflict, local media outlet Focus has claimed, citing data from open sources.

According to the report, some 78,217 weapons were either lost or stolen in 2024 alone, which is more than in 2023 and about four times as much as before February 2022.

Hunting rifles (28%) and assault rifles (28%) seem to be the most frequently “disappearing” weapons in Ukraine, followed by carbines (11%) and pistols (9%). Grenade launchers (4%) and machine guns (4%) are also mentioned in this missing weapon compendium.

Only 12% of these weapons are listed as stolen, with the remaining 88% being declared lost.

News of this development come as the United States and its allies continue to funnel weapons to Kiev with little oversight, apparently heedless of a thriving black market.

Last year, a report by the US Department of Defense inspector general revealed that during the first several months of the conflict escalation, the United States wasn’t even able to determine the ultimate destination of the weapons they sent to the country.

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