A Ukrainian battalion member on Sunday touted the effectiveness of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) that the United States has provided to Ukraine in its ongoing battle against Russian forces.
Bohdan Dmytruk, a commander of Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanized Brigade, told the Washington Post that Russian shelling dropped 10-fold after HIMARS was used to attack a Russian ammunition depot.
“We now have about one guy who has a concussion every week. Before the HIMARS hit, it was about two to three a day because of the intensity of the shelling,” he told the newspaper, adding that he believes the strike was because the depot has forced Russian troops to conserve their ammunition.
A member of Ukraine’s battalion praised the effectiveness of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) provided by the US to Ukraine in the fight against Russian forces. Above: HIMARS speed past armored personnel carriers in the Philippines on April 14, 2016. Ted Aljibe
On Friday, the US said it would provide four additional HIMARS to Ukraine as part of a $270 million security package. The Post reported that the US has already provided Ukraine with a dozen HIMARS, but that Ukrainian officials say they need at least 100 of the long-range missile systems to effectively counter the Russians.
Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
Meanwhile, Russia has claimed to have destroyed four US-provided HIMARS in recent days. However, Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, told the Post that they “have not lost a single HIMARS, despite claims by the Russians.”
The Pentagon also said last week that Russian forces had failed to destroy any of the missile launch systems.
“To this day, those systems have not been eliminated by the Russians, and I knock on wood every time I say something like that,” Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Thursday. “And they are [Ukrainians are] very effective at using them and using precision weapons against targets.”
On Saturday, retired US Army General Mark Hertling wrote on Twitter that HIMARS “with fewer shots, longer range and pinpoint accuracy” are “a game changer” in the Russia-Ukraine war.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Radio Free Europe published on Saturday, Russian military analyst Michael Kofman said HIMARS will pose a “big problem” for Russia on the battlefield.
Kofman, who directs the Russia Studies program at Virginia-based think tank CNA, said the weapons “will help Ukraine achieve some level of parity with Russian artillery, and they will create a major problem for the Russian military, and how you organize both logistics and command and control and the degree of wear and tear they take on the battlefield.