Ukraine has been able to destroy columns of Russian soldiers after it got permission from its allies to use their weapons to strike military targets across the border into Russia, a Ukrainian commander has said.
The artillery commander, with the call sign Hefastus, told the Associated Press that Ukrainian HIMARS started firing in the northern Kharkiv region as soon as Ukraine got permission.
“The HIMARS were not silent for the whole day,” he said, referring to the US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System.
Ukraine got permission from its allies last month to strike military targets in Russia with weapons they’d supplied, reversing a long-held restriction.
“From the first days, Ukrainian forces managed to destroy whole columns of troops along the border waiting for the order to enter Ukraine,” Hefastus said, according to the AP.
He said Ukraine couldn’t have achieved this without its new permissions, as regular ammunition couldn’t reach that far.
Hefastus added that Ukraine was now able to destroy Russian command centers.
His claims have not been independently verified.
Even so, Ukraine appears to have used HIMARS to strike targets in Russia since the restrictions were lifted.
Russia has also been stationing troops close to the border with Ukraine, ready to be called in to fight.
Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Ivan Havryliuk, told the AP that at least 90,000 Russian troops deep in Russian territory were readying for a new assault when the restrictions were lifted.
It’s not clear whether any of these were the troops said to be hit by the HIMARS attacks.
In the past, analysts described Ukraine as being forced to fight with one hand behind its back, with Russia using its own territory to resupply its forces and launch drone, missile, and aircraft attacks.
This changed in May when many of Ukraine’s allies said it could now use weapons they’d supplied to go after military targets on Russian soil.
The US, which announced its policy change on May 30, didn’t go as far as some but still said Ukraine could use weapons it provided to hit into regions across the border from Kharkiv.
This has allowed Ukraine to fight back more forcefully against a new Russian offensive that started in Kharkiv on May 10.
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s national guard posted images of what it said were two destroyed Russian Pantsir-S air defense systems, just south of the city of Belgorod. Russian outlets also reported the attack, which was well within range of HIMARS.
While it’s unclear exactly which weapons were used, Defense Express reported that the Pantsirs’ locations had been compromised to OSINT researchers some six months ago, and went on to suggest the attack had been enabled by the switch in US posture.
Experts say this new reality has had a big impact in Kharkiv, particularly given the Russian border is so close to the fighting. In the past, Russia was able to resupply its forces with troops, ammunition, and equipment and Ukraine could do little to interfere.
George Barros, a Russian-military expert at the US’ Institute for the Study of War, told BI that within the first days, there was a “positive difference.”
“They’ve actually helped blunt the Russian offensive at the heart,” he said, with Ukraine able to launch “small tactical counterattacks.”
Two Ukrainian officials told The Washington Post that some Russian attacks had been reduced, but they added that air bases where it was launching attacks from were out of range of what the US permission allowed Ukraine to hit.
The AP reported that Ukraine’s new strike abilities had “greatly slowed Russia’s momentum,” with local reports saying Ukrainian troops had been able to push forward and reclaim some territory — though the country’s military is still under great pressure.
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