A HIMARS missile struck a mobile command post in southern Ukraine, killing a Russian general, spokesman for the Odessa regional military Serhiy Bratchuk revealed in a Telegram post this week.
Up to a dozen Russian senior officers were also killed in the strike on Tavriis’k, near Kherson, alongside the chief of staff of the 22nd Army Corps Major General Artem Nasbulin, The Telegraph wrote.
If confirmed, Nasbulin would be the 12th Russian general to have been killed in Ukraine since the war began, the outlet added.
Nova Khakova Strike
The Ukrainian army followed the attack with a barrage of missile and rocket strikes in Nova Khakova in the Kherson region Monday night, destroying “artillery, armored vehicles and a warehouse with ammunition.”
The Telegraph estimated the attack to be the most intense in the two weeks since a series of strikes targeting Russian ammunition depots.
The Russian-backed authorities confirmed the use of HIMARS by Ukrainian forces in the attack, claiming that the strikes mostly hit civilian facilities — leaving seven people dead — a toll that has not been independently verified.
“There are no military targets here… warehouses were hit, as were shops, a pharmacy, petrol stations, and even a church,” AFP quoted the head of the city’s Moscow-backed administration, Vladimir Leontiev, as saying on social media.
Operational Command South confirmes that the Ukrainian forces have destroyed russian ammunition depot in the occupied town of Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region, on 11 July. pic.twitter.com/dBn0Zbqpiz
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) July 12, 2022
Stepped-Up Precision Strikes Since June
The British outlet reported that the Ukrainian military has stepped up attacks against Russian targets since the end of June.
The West has since delivered high-precision weapons, including the HIMARS, which has been “hammering Russian logistics and command posts daily.”
The weapons enable Ukrainian forces to strike ammunition depots located near railway lines with great precision.
Our "long hand" – made in the USA – doing its work.
Direct shot.#HIMARS
Footage by the General Staff of the #UAarmy pic.twitter.com/Fa3lUJJsO9— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) July 4, 2022
HIMARS Penetrates Russian Air Defenses
Russian air defenses have been unable to intercept the Lockheed Martin High Mobility Artillery Rocket System.
However, analysts told the outlet that a countermeasure would be devised in time, “including by dispersing targets like command posts and ammunition dumps, better use of camouflage, and setting up dummy targets to cause the Ukrainians to waste rockets.”
“I’m sure measures will be taken, for example deployment of observation aircraft. I hope they will detect something. A single war-winning ‘wunderwaffe’ does not exist,” Russian war correspondent Roman Sladkov said, referring to the Nazi V-weapons of the Second World War.
