Ukraine destroyed troop columns in Russia with HIMARS: Commander

• A Ukrainian commander said Ukraine had used HIMARS equipment to destroy columns of waiting Russian soldiers.
• He said Ukraine targeted them as soon as it received permission to use allied weapons across the border.
• According to military experts, Ukraine’s ability to use Western weapons in Russia is helping it fight back.

A Ukrainian commander said Ukraine had managed to destroy columns of Russian soldiers after receiving permission from its allies to use their weapons to attack military targets across the Russian border.

The artillery commander, call sign Hefastus, told the Associated Press that Ukrainian HIMARS began firing in the northern Kharkiv region as soon as Ukraine received permission to do so.

“The HIMARS have not been quiet all day,” he said, referring to the U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System.

Last month, Ukraine received permission from its allies to attack military targets in Russia with weapons supplied by them, lifting a long-standing ban.

“From the first days, the Ukrainian armed forces managed to destroy entire columns of troops along the border that were waiting for the order to invade Ukraine,” Hefastus said, according to AP.

He said Ukraine could not have achieved this without the new permits because conventional ammunition would not have such a long range.

Hefastus added that Ukraine is now capable of destroying Russian command centers.

His claims have not been independently verified.

Nevertheless, since the restrictions were lifted, Ukraine appears to have used HIMARS to attack targets in Russia.

In addition, Russia has troops stationed near the border with Ukraine, ready for combat operations at any time.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Ivan Havryliuk told AP that at least 90,000 Russian troops deep inside Russian territory were preparing for a new attack when the restrictions were lifted.

It is not clear whether these soldiers were the ones allegedly hit by the HIMARS attacks.

In the past, analysts have described Ukraine as being forced to fight with one hand behind its back while Russia uses its own territory to supply its forces and to launch drone, missile and aircraft attacks.

This changed in May, when many of Ukraine’s allies declared that Ukraine could now use the weapons they supplied to attack military targets on Russian soil.

The United States, which announced its change of course on May 30, did not go as far as some others, but nevertheless said that Ukraine could use weapons it supplied to attack areas beyond the Kharkiv border.

This enabled Ukraine to more vigorously fight a new Russian offensive that began in Kharkiv on May 10.

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian National Guard released images of what it said were two destroyed Russian Pantsir-S air defense systems south of the city of Belgorod. Russian media also reported on the attack, which occurred within range of HIMARS.

While it is unclear exactly which weapons were used, Defense Express reported that the Pantsirs’ locations were shared with OSINT researchers about six months ago, adding that the attack was made possible by the change in US posture.

According to experts, this new reality has a major impact on Kharkiv, especially given the proximity of the Russian border to the fighting. In the past, Russia was able to supply its armed forces with troops, ammunition and equipment without Ukraine being able to do anything about it.

George Barros, a Russia military expert at the US Institute for the Study of War, told BI that there had already been a “positive difference” in the first few days.

“They actually helped to weaken the Russian offensive at its core,” he said, and Ukraine was able to launch “small tactical counterattacks.”

Two Ukrainian government officials told the Washington Post that some Russian attacks had decreased, but added that the air bases from which the Russian attacks were launched were beyond the range of U.S.-authorized strikes.

The AP reported that Ukraine’s new offensive capabilities had “severely slowed Russia’s momentum.” Local reports said Ukrainian troops had managed to advance further and recapture some areas, but the country’s military was still under great pressure.