David Brennan
After 20 months of hunting, Russia appears to have scored its first kill of an American-made M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System in Ukraine.
Video emerged this week showing one of Kyiv's 39 HIMARS—as they are colloquially known—seemingly being destroyed in a Russian ballistic missile strike near Nykanorivka in eastern Donetsk Oblast, around 30 miles west of the current front and roughly equidistant from the captured cities of Avdiivka and Bakhmut.
The HIMARS have become emblematic of Kyiv's stubborn and sophisticated resistance to Russia's grinding invasion, and symbolic of successful NATO-Ukraine military cooperation. Since their arrival in-theater in June 2022, the HIMARS have been a prime target for Moscow.
But despite Russia having claimed many platforms destroyed—and with an apparent recent near miss that left two HIMARS peppered with shrapnel—this week's video appears the first actual loss.
This file photo shows an M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) firing during U.S.-Philippines military exercises on March 31, 2023, in Laur, Nueva Ecija, in the Philippines. Ukraine has been using the platform to great effect in its defense against Russia's invasion.
The destruction of the rocket system has prompted concern in Ukraine, unsurprisingly given the vital role played by HIMARS teams in targeting high-value Russian command posts, logistics hubs and troop concentrations.
Roman Kostenko, the secretary of the Ukrainian parliament's national security, defense and intelligence committee, has called for an investigation.
"It takes a lot of time to aim an Iskander like that," he told Ukrainska Pravda, referring to the type of Russian ballistic missile believed to be responsible for the HIMARS hit.
"Let the experts investigate why this happened," he added. "Of course, the HIMARS was firing from the rear, and we see that the enemy's intelligence is working to detect HIMARS now."
Despite the high-profile loss, Ukraine still has many HIMARS in operation. Indeed, the more pressing concern for Kyiv is whether it will have enough munitions for them. HIMARS rockets of all ranges are among the ammunition stranded by partisan gridlock in Washington.
The loss could serve as a wake-up call for the Ukrainians and their American partners.
"It means that war is still going on, so we have to watch out," Ivan Stupak—a former officer in the Security Service of Ukraine and now an adviser to the Ukrainian parliament's national security, defense and intelligence committee—told Newsweek.
The strike appears to have been conducted with the support of a high-altitude drone.
"On one hand it's a sign of Russian capabilities, but on other hand it's lack of sophisticated radar stations on the Ukrainian side," Stupak said. "Also, there is a shortage of front-line anti-air systems to secure our ground troops."
"From time to time we see evidence that Russian recognition drones are flying over Ukrainian territory at a depth of about 50 kilometers," he added.
Pavel Luzin, a Russian military analyst and visiting scholar at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, told Newsweek that the destruction of the first HIMARS is most notable in that it took Moscow's troops so long to achieve.
"It is interesting that the HIMARS survived for such a long period," he explained. "It is a great success. Russia lost hundreds of MLRS (multiple launch rocket systems) and thousands of howitzers during the same time."
"I presume it is mostly the luck of the Russian army," Luzin added. "And, of course, the Ukrainians are creative, and sometimes they prefer to take a risk in aiming to destroy something valuable on the Russian side."
The Pentagon, Luzin suggested, will not be too worried.
"And the Ukrainians are also learning how to protect [their HIMARS] better," he added.
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