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| HIMARS is The Key to Destroying Russian Military Troops |
Kiev - The former Ukrainian ambassador to Austria said that the United States (US) High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) was the key behind Ukraine's success on the battlefield against Russia. "American HIMARS continues to destroy Russian military hardware. If not for them, Russian military hardware will destroy Ukraine. It's as simple as this, really," said former Ukrainian diplomat, Olexander Scherba, on Twitter as quoted by Newsweek, Sunday (11/9/). 2022).
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Scherba also shared video footage of troops surrounded by rubble, walking in what appeared to be a ruined building, but the arrangement was unclear.
Earlier General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters this week that Ukraine had used HIMARS to strike more than 400 targets during the Russian invasion. The US has so far sent 16 HIMARS to the Eastern European country.
U.S. officials said Thursday they would provide more HIMARS munitions, among other capabilities, to the country as part of an upcoming $675 million security aid package. Ukraine has previously touted the effectiveness of HIMARS.
Bohdan Dmytruk, a commander in Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade, in July told The Washington Post that the use of weapons systems to attack Russian ammunition depots significantly reduces firing.
"We have about one person suffering a concussion every week now. Before HIMARS hit, it was about two to three days because of the intensity of the shooting," Dmytruk said. The US announcement of its latest aid package to Ukraine comes as Ukrainian forces seek to regain territory occupied by Moscow in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions.
In recent days, video footage that appears to show Ukrainian soldiers liberating areas occupied by Russian troops has been shared on social media. CNN reported on Thursday that Ukrainian forces have so far taken back 1,000 square kilometers from Russia. According to the news outlet, a Ukrainian military spokesman also said on Friday that Ukrainian forces had hit enemy positions from two to tens of kilometers in various areas. "But we haven't announced the names of the settlements and the direction in which we succeeded," he said.
On Saturday, Ukrainian military officials said troops had retaken the eastern city of Kupiansk in a retaliatory attack. "The Special Forces Special Forces SBU A is in (Kupiansk), which was and always will be Ukraine," the Ukrainian security service tweeted. The news comes after unverified reports that the city has been liberated.
Most recently, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed his troops had wrested 2,000 kilometers from Russian troops. The statement came after Russia's Defense Ministry announced it had withdrawn troops from two areas in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said troops would be regrouped from the Balakliya and Izyum areas to the eastern Donetsk region. Izyum is the main base for Russian troops in the Kharkiv region, and earlier this week social media videos showed residents of Balakliya cheering with joy as Ukrainian troops moved in.