WATCH US-made HIMARS launcher get destroyed in Ukraine
The Russian Defense Ministry has shared footage purporting to show the destruction of another US-supplied Ukrainian HIMARS multiple rocket launcher system in a ballistic missile strike.
The system was discovered by a surveillance drone and was tracked to a hangar in the village of Novopetrovka, in Ukraine’s Nikolayev Region. The location was hit by a ballistic missile fired by an Iskander-M system, the Russian military reported on Monday, adding that the HIMARS and its crew had been destroyed.
Drone footage of the strike showed the hangar being obliterated, with a secondary detonation, presumably in the launcher’s ammo stock, observed at the site.
The Russian military has consistently hunted high-value Ukrainian assets, including from the HIMARS family. Over the past few weeks, multiple launchers of this type have reportedly been destroyed, with some of the strikes captured in drone footage released by the Russian Defense Ministry.
HIMARS launchers have been long touted by Kiev as an ultimate long-range, high-precision weapon to strike Russian high-value assets such as command points or ammo stockpiles. However, Moscow has accused Ukraine of routinely using the systems to launch indiscriminate attacks on Russian territory, including on civilian targets.
