Ukrainian Parliament member Kira Rudyk told Newsmax on Monday that morale among her countrymen staving off the Russian invasion is high after getting heavy artillery weapons from the United States and the United Kingdom.
''We start finally receiving the weapons from the United States and the United Kingdom,'' Rudyk said on ''Eric Bolling: The Balance.'' ''The weapons that we definitely need, the heavier artillery, so [Ukrainian troops'} morale is very high right now, and we are very certain that we will be pushing Russians back.''
According to the Pentagon, the United States sent Ukraine $800 million in security assistance at the end of April as part of the eighth drawdown of military stock, including 72 ''heavy artillery'' 155 mm howitzers, 144,000 artillery rounds, 121 Phoenix Ghost aerial drone systems, and vehicles to tow the howitzers.
Howitzers, defined by Dictionary.com as ''a cannon having a comparatively short barrel, used especially for firing shells at a high angle of elevation, as for reaching a target behind cover or in a trench,'' have been used extensively in warfare since World War II.
Military.com reports that the M198 155 mm Howitzer weighs 15,760 pounds, is 35.75 feet long and has a range of up to 14 miles, can fire at a rate of four rounds a minute, and requires a crew of nine to operate.
She said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is pushing hard to show his citizens some ground has been gained by May 9, which is known as ''Victory Day'' in Russia, commemorating the day Nazi Germany surrendered to Soviet forces at the end of World War II, CNN reported.
Rudyk said that Putin ''will have nothing to show'' the citizens but will likely have to show remorse for the Russian troops lost in the fighting that started with Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.
''We know that they will be pushing hard towards May 9 'Victory Day' and Putin will have to show something to Russian citizens; however, [we] will make sure that he will have nothing to show [on] the date, and that we will,'' she said. ''He will show like some remorse, or probably some of the defeat that the Russian army will have.''
Rudyk said she couldn't describe how happy the Ukrainian military is now that they have the heavy weapons to help repel the Russians.
She said Putin will say on May 9 that he plans to create ''another republic'' of the conquered territories in the eastern Donbas region, but that the Ukrainian forces ''will make sure that there are none of [those] by that time.''
She said those forces are trying to evacuate as many people as possible from the city of Mariupol, which has been under siege for months by the Russians, and that she is optimistic now that the Ukrainian troops have the heavier weapons.
''I cannot begin to tell you, but I'm actually very optimistic today ... and thank you for all the help that your country is giving to my country,'' she said.
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