To hear Ukrainian military officers say this in recent days, the indispensable weapon during the fifth month of its defensive war against the Russian invaders is the high-mobility artillery rocket system, or HIMARS, a rocket launcher. long-range artillery mounted on armored vehicles.
“HIMARS has already made a big difference on the battlefield,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov tweeted on July 9th. “More of them as well [U.S.] Ammunition and equipment will increase our strength and help demilitarize the terrorist state, “he wrote, referring to Russia.
So it was certainly gratifying news in Kyiv that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin confirmed on Wednesday that Washington would send four other HIMARS platforms, which, he added, Ukraine has been “using so effectively and that they have marked a difference on the battlefield “.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at a briefing at the Pentagon on Wednesday. (Alex Brandon / AP)
HIMARS attacks have, in fact, been devastating, and the Russian army simply has no counterattack for their range, accuracy, and mobility; the M31 series rockets that have been supplied with the HIMARS have the capability to achieve a target within a radius of 16 feet at a distance of 52 miles. Because it is on wheels, the launcher can be in motion seconds after firing, which makes it incredibly well protected against Russian counter-batteries.
Since the US began supplying HIMARS in late June, the Ukrainians have managed three things simultaneously. First, according to Valery Zaluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, its use has been an “important contributing factor” to “stabilization.”[ing]”The front in the Donbas region, where Russia had been making slow but unmistakable gains, including the capture of the sister cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. The situation there, Zaluzhny said, is “complex, tense, but completely controllable.” (Contrast this optimistic tone with the catastrophic loss of manpower that Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, cited a few weeks ago, when they killed between 100 and 200 Ukrainian soldiers a day.)
The story goes on
A high-mobility artillery rocket system, or HIMARS, at a Marine Corps base camp in Jacksonville, North Carolina (Lcpl. Jennifer Reyes / US Marines / Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire)
Dozens of Russian ammunition depots inside the occupied parts of the Donbas have now vanished almost daily in recent weeks, prompting a number of new memes on Twitter and war observers to regularly refer to the HIMARS or “clock.” These attacks have been so punishing for the Russians ’efforts to resupply their own artillery systems, far exceeding the Ukrainians, that Moscow announced an operational“ pause ”in its campaign at the Donbas on 7 July.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered generals to prioritize the destruction of HIMARS and other long-range artillery during a visit to the front in Ukraine on July 18, a tacit acknowledgment of how important the its impact.
Second, HIMARS helped Ukraine recover the strategically vital island of the Serpent in the Black Sea, the scene of the famous retort to a Russian battleship of a besieged Ukrainian soldier, “Russian warship, go to the shit “. Although not used directly against Russian positions on the island, the very presence of HIMARS weapons on the battlefield, along with Western-supplied anti-ship missiles, such as the Harpoons, has greatly influenced the strategic calculation. of Russia that maintaining the island would prove impossible. eventually.
A senior Ukrainian military intelligence official told Yahoo News that Russia’s withdrawal from Snake Island, which the Kremlin tried to turn into a “gesture of goodwill,” showed a “real fear of our new long-range artillery capability “.
A satellite image shows smoke rising from Snake Island off the coast of Ukraine on June 29. (Planet Labs PBC / Handout via Reuters)
“We have greatly expanded our range of operational control over the Black Sea coast and prevented the Russians from conducting amphibious operations in this area,” said the official, who requested anonymity.
The official added that the hasty withdrawal from Russia has given a boom in intelligence and useful material for the Ukrainians. “Our team was able to find ammunition, different types of weapons, combat and personnel documents and even packaged and ready-to-use air reconnaissance systems that the Russians absolutely need,” the official said.
Third, HIMARS has allowed Kyiv to prepare for a counteroffensive near the southern Kherson region, the first large population center to fall into the hands of Vladimir Putin’s forces since the Russian invasion began on February 24th.
On July 11, HIMARS destroyed a Russian command center at Chornobaivka Airport, which was attacked in series, and killed 12 senior Russian officers, including Major General Artem Nasbulin, Chief of Staff of the 22nd Army Corps. ‘Army, according to Serhiy Bratchuk, a Ukrainian officer of the Odessa Regional Military Administration.
This is an impressive troika of successes for any weapons platform in just under a month of operations, especially considering the few HIMARS launchers that exist in Ukraine.
The United States supplied four initial systems on June 23. In what is now a familiar pattern of “proof of concept” of American security assistance, they were approved once again by the Ukrainians demonstrated their effectiveness on the battlefield.
A Ukrainian military commander with rockets in a HIMARS vehicle in eastern Ukraine. (Anastasia Vlasova for the Washington Post via Getty Images)
As of July 20, a total of 16 HIMARS systems supplied by the United States are in the country or on the way, in addition to the European equivalents: Ukrainians have been ambiguous on purpose about how many systems are active for operational security reasons. The UK has committed six of the M270B1, an even more powerful version of the HIMARS, of which three have already arrived, and the Germans have committed three MARS II MLRS, another cousin of HIMARS, which have d ‘arrive in late July. In total, Ukraine will soon take possession of 25 long-range Western artillery systems.
Reznikov, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, said at a July 19 event organized by the think tank in Washington, DC, the Atlantic Council, that Ukraine needs twice that number to deter Russia and quadruple it. lo to make any counter-offensive successful.
For Ukrainian troops who have long complained about the supremacy of Russian artillery in the Donbas, the arrival of HIMARS and its European equivalents would be a much-needed arm shot, Ukrainian military officials say. For Ukrainian civilians, the weapons delivered so far have meant a relentless respite from the carnage. The United Nations estimates that 4,731 civilians have been killed and 5,900 injured.
Originally designed to control forest fires, NASA’s Fire Resource Management Information System (FIRMS) satellite network has been used during the war by both professionals and amateurs to trace the flames they have. result of artillery fire. All recent FIRMS data point to a large reduction in Russian activity along the contact line, as its heavy guns and multiple rocket launchers far beyond this line are destroyed in HIMARS night attacks. by Ukrainian forces.
One of the key features of the HIMARS system is its modular nature, which gives it the ability to fire a variety of different rockets. In addition to being able to fire M31 rockets, the system can fire one of the largest and most destructive ballistic missiles in Army tactical missile systems (ATACMS).
An army tactical missile system in action. (US Army via Wikicommons)
With a range of up to 186 miles and the same accuracy as the M31, the United States had stopped supplying ATACMS to the Ukrainians for fear that they would be used to attack targets within Russia itself and set off a climbing spiral that could drag NATO countries. and Russia in a direct conflict.
President Biden seemed to rule out sending ATACMS to Ukraine in a May 31 New York Times opinion piece in which he emphasized the limits of U.S. military support.
“We are not encouraging or allowing Ukraine to go beyond its borders,” he wrote.
Lately, however, fears that Ukraine would use long-range artillery to attack targets within Russia appear to have diminished. Kyiv has respected its agreement with Washington not to use HIMARS to strike at Russia. And Reznikov recently told the Financial Times that he was confident that Ukraine would finally receive the ATACMS tactical ballistic missile.
If the United States decides to send ATACMS, this could also fundamentally change the course of the war, putting the Kerch Bridge, Russia’s only direct connection to the occupied Crimean peninsula, and the naval base of Sevastopol, home of what remains. of its Black Sea fleet. , very close distance.
Kaimo Kuusk, Estonia’s ambassador to Ukraine, told Yahoo News that the Russians have already shuddered at Ukraine’s long-range firepower, as evidenced by the relocation of a “significant number” of ships of the Black Sea Fleet from their port of origin. Sevastopol in the Crimea to Novorossiysk in southern Russia. “As the Ukrainians advance, Sevastopol will be within reach, and Moscow cannot afford another humiliation such as the sinking of the Moskva,” Kuusk said, referring to the sinking of the Russian flagship on 14 april with domestically manufactured antitank missiles.
The South Korean army launches an army tactical missile system during a military exercise. (Ministry of Defense via Zuma Press Wire)
Commander-in-Chief Volodymyr Havrylov, Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, told Yahoo News that the move could be Moscow’s way of protecting its bets against sending heavier artillery to Ukraine. When asked if the Black Sea Fleet was leaving the Crimean ports in anticipation of the ATACMS, Havrylov replied: “I think that …