Japan’s HIMARS launch vehicle Photo by PHILIP FONG/AFP via Getty Images
Ukrainian forces are using new long-range missile launchers provided by Western countries to strike targets far behind Russian lines, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The Times described a “fireball” that “lit up the sky” over occupied Luhansk on Wednesday morning in what Russian media described as a strike on an aircraft battery.
Russian state media reported that similar strikes on ammunition depots near Kherson in southern Ukraine actually targeted civilians, leaving seven dead. The Ukrainian army rejected this claim.
According to the Times, Ukrainian forces are carrying out these strikes with “truck-mounted, multiple rocket launchers known as highly mobile artillery rocket systems, or HIMARS.”
As explained here at The Week, “HIMARS is a lighter, more mobile cousin of [Multiple Launch Rocket System]” and has an effective range of more than 180 miles. That’s 10 times the range of the M777 howitzers the US previously sent to Ukraine.
On June 1, a US official confirmed that HIMARS was being targeted at Kyiv as part of a new $700 million military aid package.
If Ukraine can successfully disrupt Russia’s logistical and artillery operations, it could be a game-changer. During the Donbass campaign, Russia relied heavily on its massive artillery advantage to repel Ukrainian forces, firing about 50,000 artillery rounds a day, 10 times more than Ukraine could manage.
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