HIMARS Smashing Putin's Army as Russia Fears Ukraine Will Break Through
Ukraine's HIMARS are now being used on the front lines to hit Russian positions in the south of the country, according to a prominent Russian war blogger.
HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) are being deployed "without hesitation, to be used on the very front" in regions such as the eastern Donetsk and southern Zaporizhzhia regions, Kremlin propagandist Semyon Pegov, who runs the WarGonzo Telegram account, said on Thursday.
"They hit right on the advanced fortifications," he wrote, adding Kyiv's military could try to "cut through" Russian forces with the HIMARS.
"Kicking the HIMARS out of the trenches is much more difficult than tank attacks," Pegov continued.
A HIMARS is seen in action in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast on May 18, 2023. HIMARS are being deployed "without hesitation, to be used on the very front," according to a prominent Russian military blogger. Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
Ukraine has been using HIMARS since the summer of 2022. The wheeled, multiple-rocket launchers arrived in Ukraine in June 2022 and were hailed as "powerful tools" by Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky then said that "HIMARS and other precision weapons are turning the course of war in our favor" in late July 2022.
The U.S. has provided 38 HIMARS to Ukraine in its military aid packages, in addition to ammunition for the artillery systems.
Questions remain over whether Ukraine has already launched its long-expected counteroffensive push against Russian forces.
On Monday, Russia's defense ministry said Ukraine had launched a "large-scale offensive" on Sunday, focusing on "five sectors of the front."
"The adversary's objective was to break through our defense on the most vulnerable front sector," according to Russian defense ministry spokesperson, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov. This push had failed, the Russian defense ministry added.
However, the head of the Wagner Group of mercenaries fighting in Ukraine, Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, said earlier this week that Ukraine's forces "have already broken through the line of defense" in several areas.
Vladimir Rogov, the head of the pro-Moscow "We Are Together With Russia" movement, told state media on Thursday that Kyiv had been carrying out counteroffensive operations in the southern Zaporizhzhia region for up to four days.
Kyiv has largely remained tight-lipped over its operations, and on Wednesday, the head of Ukraine's Defense and Security Council denied the counteroffensive had begun.
"All of this is not true," Oleksiy Danilov told the Reuters news agency. "When all this will begin, it will be decided by our military."
"When we start the counteroffensive, everyone will know about it, they will see it," Danilov added.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that over the previous day, Ukrainian forces had advanced between 200 to 1,100 meters in several areas near the contested Donetsk city of Bakhmut.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries for comment via email.
Source: Newsweek
