A Day After Moscow Claimed Destruction of HIMARS, Ukraine Shows its Daytime Firing at Russian Targets

Ukraine’s military shared footage of four U.S.-made M142 HIMARS rocket artillery systems, a day after Russia claimed destruction of six such systems.

The rare footage of four HIMARS systems in action at the same time was shared on Telegram by operativnoZSU group. HIMARS systems can be seen firing 24 M31A1 GMLRS unitary missiles at Russian targets. The missile has a minimum engagement range of 15km and can hit a target out to 70km, impacting at a speed of Mach 2.5.

Deputy head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence, Major General Vadym Skibitsky said in a recent press conference that Ukraine was able to hit Russian warehouses and HQs precisely using HIMARS thanks to the usage of real-time data provided by the U.S. and the U.K. He stressed that the U.S. is not providing direct information on the targets because that could undermine Washington's argument that it is not a direct participant in the war.

The video also shows a Ukrainian fighter who has a portable anti-aircraft missile system.

Yesterday, Russian defense minister said their military eliminated 33 American M777 howitzers, five launchers of the Harpoon anti-ship missile system, six HIMARS launchers and over 200 MLRS missiles.

The Pentagon quickly denied Russian claims of destroying six HIMARS launchers since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine. "We are aware of these latest claims by Minister Shoigu and they are again patently false," Todd Breasseale, the Pentagon's acting spokesman, said during a briefing.