HIMARS Strike Kills 200 Russian Troops on Ukraine Beach
Ukraine's military reported that a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) strike from its forces recently took out a large number of Russian soldiers on a beach in the occupied Kherson region.
Ukrainian media outlets such as Euromaidan Press said around 200 Russian troops were killed in the attack, but Newsweek has not been able to independently verify that number.
The strike on Russian training camps occurred on the Kherson island of Dzharylhach in the Black Sea. On Monday, Ukraine's military posted footage of the incident online, but it did not provide a date for when it happened.
The National Resistance Center, which operates under the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said in a Facebook post that information provided by "underground" sources led to the strike.
Ukrainian forces supervise as a M142 HIMARS launching a rocket on May 18 in Ukraine's Donetsk region. A HIMARS strike recently took out around 200 Russian soldiers on a beach in the occupied Kherson region, Ukrainian media reported. Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty
"Thanks to the information provided by the underground in the temporarily occupied territory, dozens of invaders and enemy equipment were destroyed," the National Resistance Center wrote, according to a translation by the Kyiv Post.
The footage posted by Ukraine was filmed using a drone and shows a large formation of Russian troops on the shore of the island. A large explosion is then seen before the video ends.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, D.C., think tank, wrote in a July 23 assessment of the Ukraine war that Russia's military had recently set up camps on Dzharylhach to be used by "degraded units from various parts of the front to Kherson Oblast" for recovery and training.
Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense via email for comment.
HIMARS, which the U.S. has supplied to Ukraine's forces, has been a key weapon for Ukraine in the war against the invading Russians, and Kyiv frequently shares video footage of the systems in action.
In one such video, posted by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on July 3, rockets from a HIMARS can be seen destroying multiple Russian rocket launchers and howitzers.
.@ZelenskyyUa
Last week was difficult on the frontline. But we are making progress.
We are moving forward, step by step! I thank everyone who is defending Ukraine, everyone who is leading this war to Ukraine's victory!
Glory to our heroes! pic.twitter.com/HxQQ9H92yk — Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) July 3, 2023
That clip featured aerial images of HIMARS purportedly taking out at least three Russian BM-21 "Grad" rocket launcher systems, a "Msta-B" howitzer and a 2S7 "Pion" artillery cannon. Newsweek was able to independently verify the contents of the video.
In a June incident that got international headlines, an unspecified amount of Russian soldiers were killed by a Ukrainian HIMARS strike while waiting for their commander to deliver a motivational speech. The incident resulted in heavy criticism of Russian officials by pro-Kremlin military bloggers.
Source: Newsweek
