[dabigv13]

Of course Ukraine will publicly call for the maximum. But we don't have 300 HIMARS to give them. Would the ultimate outcome be a lot different if they had ~20 HIMARS/ M270s a month earlier? Would Ukraine have been able to spare people to train on these systems earlier in March or April? I'm sure there was plenty of behind the scenes discussion with NATO allies on this issue- maybe Germany or France or another major ally was against this sort of transfer earlier and needed some convincing.

Lack of planning or indecision could be an explanation why they didn't get HIMARS sooner, but I think there are plenty of other plausible explanations.

"We aren't giving them weapons fast enough to really make a difference so we should probably just stop entirely" smells wrong to me.

[dabigv13]

Of course Ukraine will publicly call for the maximum. But we don't have 300 HIMARS to give them. Would the ultimate outcome be a lot different if they had ~20 HIMARS/ M270s a month earlier? Would Ukraine have been able to spare people to train on these systems earlier in March or April? I'm sure there was plenty of behind the scenes discussion with NATO allies on this issue- maybe Germany or France or another major ally was against this sort of transfer earlier and needed some convincing.

Lack of planning or indecision could be an explanation why they didn't get HIMARS sooner, but I think there are plenty of other plausible explanations.

"We aren't giving them weapons fast enough to really make a difference so we should probably just stop entirely" smells wrong to me.