The war in Ukraine entered its sixth month, and yet the Russian military is still struggling and failing to achieve its primary objectives. With the assistance of the U.S. and the West, the Ukrainian forces have proven to be a formidable adversary. The advent of social media is giving the two belligerents the opportunity to claim public victories and even ridicule their opponent.
Indeed, the Ukrainian military has a habit of trolling Moscow after successful operations against Russian troops. And the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) has made it so much easier for the Ukrainians to troll the Russian military.
HIMARS o’clock
As if it were straight out of an Iron Maiden song, every time night falls over Ukraine, the Russian forces shudder, expecting the worse. Every night the Ukrainian military takes out its precision long-range fires weapon systems and rains fire and destruction on the Russian forces in Ukraine.
Recently, the Ukrainian military released a video about the M142 HIMARS and its effectiveness in taking out Russian targets. Under the lyrics of Metallica, the video shows several M142 HIMARS fire missions against Russian positions.
“When night falls in Ukraine and the sky is illuminated by big bright lights ,” the video begins, “everyone knows it’s HIMARS o’clock.”
After footage of successful strikes against Russian positions, the Ukrainian military ends the video by announcing (and trolling the Russians) the “HIMARS Global Tour 2022,” which is coming to “a Russian munitions depot near you.”
The M142 HIMARS and the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) have proven to be instrumental in the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south and the stalling of the Russian forces in the Donbas.
Over the past few weeks, the Ukrainian forces have been using the two weapon systems to degrade the Russian military’s ability to defend against a counteroffensive in the direction of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
The two weapon systems have given Kyiv the ability to target and strike with precision the Russian warmachine. Over the past two months, the Ukrainian forces have used the M142 HIMARS and M270 MLRS to systematically take out ammunition dumps, fuel depots, command and control hubs, lines of communication, railways, bridges, lines of supply, and other targets of high value.
A recent strike in the Luhansk province in the Donbas took out the forward headquarters of the infamous private military company Wagner Group, killing and wounding dozens of mercenaries. In addition, the Ukrainian forces have been destroying vehicle bridges and railway bridges in the region.
Related: Watch: American HIMARS missiles destroy Russian-occupied bridge
Defending the undefendable
The Russian military leadership has tried to defend against the Ukrainian trolling by claiming that it has been targeting and destroying M142 HIMARS batteries.
“The Russian Defense Ministry is likely trying to assuage distress that Ukraine’s effective use of the US HIMARS is causing Russian military personnel and milbloggers with inaccurate claims of destroying HIMARS launchers,” the Institute for the Study of War had assessed.
During a conference with the leadership of the Russian military, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu publicly claimed that the Russian military has destroyed six M142 HIMARS, even citing a video of an alleged strike against a pair of M142 HIMARS.
However, according to U.S. defense officials, the Russian military hasn’t destroyed any of the 16 M142 HIMARS that Ukraine has received from the U.S.
This is likely to become a problem for the Russian military because Moscow simply doesn’t seem to have a way to counter the M142 HIMARS or M270 MLRS.
“Ukrainian HIMARS strikes have prompted many milbloggers and military correspondents to express concern over the effectiveness of air defense systems and the threats to Russian logistics, and these strikes are likely demoralizing Russian servicemen on the ground,” the Institute for the Study of War had added.
Read more from Sandboxx News
- How Russia fooled the world about its ‘hypersonic’ Kinzhal
- HIMARS and other high-tech weapons in Ukraine
- 6 nice perks of joining the Special Forces
- How the Special Operations Combat Medic Course provides real-world experience
- US confirms sending HARM missiles as Ukraine wreaks havoc on Russian air defense systems
This is the worst post-write forum I have ever read; it insults the author.
geo sends
An article par excellance!
geo sends
Hahaha, these Russian troll propagandist are sincerely sad. They’re literally standing in the middle of a building engulfed in flames screaming “there is no such thing as fire!”
So, if the Russians did in fact hacked into the HIMARS system, would that mean that they are targeting themselves?
This is a joke right? It’s Russian artillery that puts Ukrops to sleep, about 1,000 per day to sleep permanently. Ukrops corpses litter the landscape.
There are no weapons in all of NATO that can be handed to Ukrops that will make the slightest difference in the final conclusion. Russia will push to the range of the weapons arrayed against the Donbass, right to the western border if necessary. Any attacks from outside the borders of Ukraine will have a drastic conclusion: The Russians consider the Ukrainians blood brothers but they hate the Poles. There will be no mercy shown to the Poles, expect the US style of warfare of bombing cities of civilians into rubble and then sending in the infantry.
The Russians captured one of the HIMARS launchers and loaders a few weeks ago. HIMARS are manned by Americans, either US Army or CIA “contractors”, so I imagine they ran like rabbits when the launcher was captured. The DNR has a death penalty and they consider mercenaries to be plain murderers as those Azov Battalion Brits discovered.
You have no idea what you’re talking about or you’ve been lied to a lot. That vehicle was misidentified. Himars launchers don’t have a loading vehicle, it loads its self. 1000 Ukrainian dead per day? 180+ days ×1000 dead×3000 wounded(casualties typically counted as 1 dead for every 3 wounded)=720k casualties. You’re claiming that Russia has been unable to advance in a country that doesn’t have a standing army anymore? What’s holding the Russians back now? 80 year old women? Also Russia wouldn’t dare attack Poland and face the full might of NATO when they can’t even handle a couple 80 year old women with a little bit of surplus weapons. Lastly, how would you know if they were Americans manning the launcher of they weren’t captured with it? Were they observed running away yelling “lets go Brandon”? While you’re at it with all the disinformation, why don’t we tell the world Putin likes to be the little spoon with all his generals. Smh
HIMARS does reload itself, but does so from the ammo vehicles that carry the reloads, sometimes referred to as “reload vehicles.”
I just like to say ,can you tell me what year you can take your kids to McDonalds in Moscow next,,would that be in 50 years time,,,
Yeah, “David Parker” my fourth point of contact! You’re a Russian troll spreading lies. Maybe you are just misinformed, but more likely you are an intentional propagandist. It is going to be a long, ugly fight, but the Russian military has already proved it’s essential incompetence.
Work for putin do you
Ignore this. Russian fake news. Easy to spot
So much “winning”
FAST FACT: Russia’s military has killed more Ukrainian soldiers than than the UK has soldiers in its ENTIRE army…
Go and join the Russian army as no one else is. At least you’ll do Putin some good for a few days at least