Since July, the American Himar rocket launchers have been helping Ukraine to achieve great success in the fight against the Russian invaders. The weapon is also said to have been decisive in the liberation of the Cherson region. Soon the system could hit the Russians even more sensitively.
For several months, Ukraine has repeatedly been causing problems for the Russian attackers with the American Himar rocket launchers. The multiple rocket launchers they got from the US are apparently a nightmare for Putin’s troops. According to the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the weapon is also said to have played a decisive role in the Ukrainian liberation of the Cherson region.
Since July, the Ukrainian armed forces have been systematically attacking and damaging the bridges over the country’s largest river, the Dnipro, with the help of Himar rocket launchers. In this way, the Ukrainians were able to make supplying the Russian troops on the right bank of the river almost impossible.
“Hour of Himar”: This is how Himar’s attacks on Russian forces were dubbed on social media. The Ukrainian soldiers fired their multiple rocket launchers at the bridges and depots captured by Russia. Although the Himars have been in use for several months now, the Russian armed forces are not able to locate and eliminate them in time, the ISW further analyzes.
The Russians were also unable to adequately protect their important infrastructure, such as weapons depots, from the missiles. The logistics of the Russian army were able to continue to supply the troops with ammunition, petrol and provisions – but the process continued to slow down.
And the Himars attacks continue to produce further successes: Last week, the Russian armed forces had to leave the western bank of the Dnipro and thus also the region’s capital, Cherson. The last of the Russian troops disappeared over a pontoon bridge across the Dnipro at dawn on Friday.
Ukrainian journalist and Wall Street Journal correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov credits the Ukrainian success to the Himar rocket launchers: “Kherson would have been a ruin and tens of thousands would have perished in the campaign if Himar’s attacks on bridges had not crippled Russian logistics and would have forced the Russians to retreat without city battles,” Trofimov tweeted. According to Trofimov, US arms shipments have saved many civilian lives.
For the Ukrainian armed forces, the Russian withdrawal is a double success. It gives them new strategic advantages: the Ukrainian armed forces can now attack Russian command posts, logistics centers and other military facilities far behind the front with the Himar rocket launchers. After all, the precise weapon has a range of up to 85 kilometers.
Targets near the isthmus north of Crimea are now within range of the weapon. The city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhia region, for example, could now be targeted by the Ukrainians – much to the detriment of the Russians. After all, the city represents an important junction of Russian supply lines, according to British intelligence.
The precision artillery of the West thus made a significant contribution to Ukraine being able to recapture Cherson. In addition to the Himars rocket launchers, this also includes the Panzerhaubitze 2000 delivered from Germany, Caesar type guns from France, the Krab from Poland and the American M777. But the light rocket launchers from Himar, which came from the USA, were particularly decisive – they are considered to be particularly precise.
The modern gun can fire six GPS-guided projectiles at a range of up to 85 kilometers. In addition, Himars can be loaded with a single short-range ballistic missile that hits its target 300 kilometers away – and at a speed of around 3000 kilometers per hour.
The Himars rocket launchers are mounted on a vehicle – they can be moved quickly and are less vulnerable to counterattacks. In addition, they fly very low, making it difficult to defend against the rocket launchers.
So far, 20 Himars are said to have been delivered to Ukraine. The USA has already announced that more will follow.
Putin wants to tighten control of the flow of funds to equip the army. Trenches in Crimea can be seen on satellite images. According to a US general, more than 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or injured in Ukraine so far. All current voices and developments on the Ukraine war can be found in the ticker.
After the recapture of Cherson, the question for military expert Mike Martin is not what Russia is going to do now – it is Ukraine’s turn for him. On Twitter he shows how the war could continue. His guess: Ukraine is targeting the “gravitational center of Putin’s credibility.”
