Vladimir Putin Meeting Suggests Controversy Is Worse Than We Thought

(FreedomBeacon.com)- On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with senior cabinet officials to discuss the development of air transport and aircraft manufacturing.

According to the Kremlin, the meeting will cover “a number of current issues,” but did not provide further details on what specifically will be discussed.

Before Monday’s meeting, the state-controlled news agency TASS suggested that one topic Kremlin officials might discuss may be the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) the West has supplied to Ukraine that has been doing so much damage to Russian forces.

Whether or not that was discussed during the meeting, however, is unclear.

But if Putin’s cabinet didn’t discuss the HIMARS, the West certainly is.

Recently, a senior Pentagon official told reporters that Ukraine has used HIMARS to great effect, destroying over 100 “high value” Russian targets, including ammunition depots, long-range artillery positions, command posts, air-defense sites, and radar and communications nodes.

On Friday, the White House announced it was sending an additional $270 million in security assistance to Ukraine which will include four additional HIMARS.

According to Joint Chiefs chairman General Mark Milley, thanks to HIMARS, Ukraine has degraded Russia’s capabilities.

Retired Army General Mark Hertling recently described HIMARS as a “game changer” in Ukraine’s fight against Russia as the systems have greater range, precision, and accuracy than most of the other weapons Ukraine is using.