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The Javelin antitank missiles that figured in former President Donald Trump's first impeachment for deliberately delaying military aid to Ukraine arewreaking havoc on the Russian invaders.

Military experts said that the lightweight but lethal weapon helped the Ukrainians cause major damage to Moscow's military.

The United States-made weapon has become a symbol of resistance and has been dubbed "Saint Javelin" by Canadian marketer Christian Borys.

John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the nonpartisan Madison Policy Forum in New York, said that the Javelin system has been vital to Ukrainian military survival and ability to hold ground against the Russians.

The weapon has lethality to penetrate any tank or mobile vehicle on the battlefield and is produced by defense contractors.

He said that it can shoot down helicopters.

The Javelins have taken on a symbolic meaning beyond the military, according to Mark Cancian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Javelins are the most sophisticated and effective weapon the Ukrainians have.

Cancian said that the Ukrainians have more Israeli-made NLOS and German Panzerfaust 3 antitank weapons.

Cancian said in an email to NBC News that infantry antitank weapons seem to be quite effective. The Russians seem to be moving very slowly, if not actually stalling, and these weapons must be part of what has given the relatively small and weak Ukrainian forces so much ability to resist.

Russia has four times as many troops as Ukraine. It spends more money on its armed forces than it does on its military.

Russia has only 25% of its forces fighting in Ukraine, with the rest deployed in the Caucasus or defending the border with China. Ukraine has over a million reserves and is fighting in its own country.

The FGM-148 Javelin is one of the more than 1,700 antitank weapons that have been rushed by NATO via Poland to Ukraine since Moscow invaded more than three weeks ago, and the evidence of their effectiveness soon became clear when the Russian tank advance on the capital city.

Manned most often by a team of two soldiers, the Javelin fires a heat-seeking missile with a range of up to 2.5 miles. It has a system called "fire and forget" that allows soldiers to take cover before the enemy can detect them. The experts said that it is called a Javelin because it strikes tanks from the top.

They said that the Javelins can fire directly at a target, making them a threat against low-flying helicopters.

The Javelin is easy to use, which is a plus because most of the fighting in Ukraine is being done by civilians with little military training.

The Ukrainians have bragged about the success of the Javelin by sharing pictures of their soldiers with their weapons and photos of destroyed Russian tanks.

According to various published reports, Kyiv ordered over 200 Javelin missiles in the first half of last year. The year before, Trump signed an agreement to give $250 million to Ukraine.

The scandal that resulted in Trump's first impeachment was caused by these weapons.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a July 25, 2019, phone call with Trump that they are almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States.

I would like you to do us a favor, because our country has been through a lot, and we know a lot about it.

Zelenskyy was suggested to investigate the business dealings of Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, by Trump, who considered them to be his top rivals for the presidency in 2020.

After Zelenskyy was assured by the Ukrainian president that his new prosecutor would look into the matter, Trump released millions of dollars in military aid for the country.

The Democratic-led House impeached Trump in December for abuse of power. He was acquitted by the Senate in February 2020.

Romney was the only Republican who voted with the Democrats to convict Trump of abuse of power.

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