(JustPatriots.com)- Last week, USA Today reported that Ukraine’s Defense Ministry warned Russian forces in Kherson to “retreat or be annihilated.”
The Ukrainian military has been using US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) with great effect in its fight against Russia. Last Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said HIMARS severely damaged a bridge over the Dnipro River that was vital to Russia’s supply lines in occupied Kherson.
Russia had been relying on the bridge to transport personnel and equipment to Russia-occupied territories in eastern Ukraine.
In boasting about its successful strike on Twitter, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry told the Russian “occupiers” in Kherson, “Retreat or be annihilated by #UAarmy. The choice is theirs.”
According to a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s Operational Command South, the strike was not intended to destroy the bridge, only to make it impossible for Russian forces to use it.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his forces would begin striking new targets in Ukraine if the West continues supplying the country with weapons. And while he didn’t mention HIMARS, there is no doubt this is the weapons system causing the most damage to Moscow’s war effort.
A senior Pentagon official recently told reporters that Ukraine has used the US-supplied HIMARS to great effect, destroying over 100 “high value” Russian targets, including ammunition depots, long-range artillery positions, command posts, air-defense sites, and radar and communications nodes.
Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced last week that HIMARS have destroyed 50 ammunition depots thus far.
Two weeks ago, the Pentagon announced it was sending an additional $175 million in equipment to Ukraine, including another 16 HIMARS along with more anti-armor weapons, four new command post vehicles, and 36,000 rounds of 105-mm ammunition to be used in the Howitzers donated by the UK.
