In Ukraine and Europe, a concern: Has Putin outlasted the US?

Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines of the war with Russia were jubilant when HIMARS, the U.S. Army’s coveted multiple rocket launcher, arrived on the battlefield in July 2022.

Not only was the launcher considered light-years ahead of the mostly Soviet-era equipment that the Ukrainians had at their disposal. But perhaps even more important, delivery of the sophisticated American weaponry offered ironclad evidence that the United States would, in President Joe Biden’s words, stand with Ukraine “as long as it takes” to repel the Russian aggression.

As recently as last week, a HIMARS rocket attack obliterated a group of elite Russian drone pilots operating in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province.

But these days, the HIMARS