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Ukrainian officials have argued that they need longer-range artillery to offset the Russian military’s enormous firepower.
The U.S. has declined to provide Ukraine with longer-range rockets that can be fired by the Himars at targets up to 185 miles away.
Russian officials have sharply criticized the U.S. decision to supply Himars, saying Washington is pouring fuel on the fire and threatening to respond if the systems are used to target Russian territory.
For the Ukrainian operators, Himars provide an opportunity to level the playing field against an enemy that has more men and more guns. The U.S. and its Western allies had previously focused on providing 155mm howitzers, with range comparable to Russian systems, to replace Ukraine’s own Soviet-era stock.
Each Himars fires six precision-guided rockets with a range of up to 48 miles, giving the Ukrainians the ability to strike Russian command posts, ammunition and fuel depots, as well as troop concentrations in rear areas.
An abandoned Russian rocket launcher.Photo: Manu Brabo for The Wall Street Journal
Soviet-designed Smerch and Uragan long-range multiple-launch systems are imprecise and time-consuming to use, relying on analog instruments for targeting. The systems are unarmored, difficult to maneuver and often break down, exposing operators to risk of counterattack.
Himars are smaller and easier to maneuver, helping them hide from enemy reconnaissance. Crews work inside an armored cabin. And they are fast: once parked, they can begin launching rockets within two or three minutes and move again 20 seconds after firing.
“You press three buttons. A few seconds and the system is ready to shoot,” said Lt. Koval. “I don’t have enough fingers to count all the advantages of Himars.”
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on June 23 that the first Himars had arrived. “Summer will be hot for russian occupiers. And the last one for some of them,” he wrote on Twitter.
The following day, Lt. Koval and his men—who received three weeks of training in May from American instructors at a base in Germany—set to work.
Operating at night to avoid detection by Russian drones, Lt. Koval directed each system to a different launch point in a coordinated attack with 24 rockets on Russian positions. Operators like Pvt. Dmytro Kovalenko, 18 years old, put coordinates into a digital system that uses satellites to direct strikes and then pressed the launch button.
Rockets flashed across the black sky in a burst and, moments later, the vehicles were on the move back to a secure location, according to a video shown to a reporter by Lt. Koval.
The next day, video footage posted online showed the Russian headquarters at a school in Izyum on fire. Lt. Koval said 17 Russian service members were killed, including a colonel and two majors, more than 20 were wounded and many vehicles were destroyed.
That assessment, which Lt. Koval said was based on Ukrainian intelligence reports, couldn’t be independently verified.
A few days later, Himars hit a Russian military barracks where new recruits were sleeping, inflicting heavy losses, Lt. Koval said. In a third attack he described, the Ukrainians directed all four Himars at Russian positions in one Ukrainian town, sending 24 rockets against targets in the same area. Another strike struck in the town of Zymohirya, some 30 miles behind the frontline, Lt. Koval said.
Due to the $155,000 price tag per rocket, the Ukrainians are focusing the firepower on high-value targets like military headquarters, weapons depots and barracks rather than individual Russian tanks or artillery systems. They expect this will force Moscow to pull assets back from the frontline, which will further stretch its already strained logistics.
Kyiv is asking Washington for the ability to strike even deeper into Russian-held territory but so far, the Biden administration hasn’t indicated it would provide the U.S. Army’s tactical-missile system, which can travel more than 185 miles.
“We dream of having longer-range munitions for Himars to hit more significant targets,” said Lt. Koval. On his wishlist are Russian airstrips and command posts and a bridge that Russia built after annexing Crimea at the start of the 2014 war.
On his body armor, Lt. Koval wears a patch he received from a U.S. instructor showing a coiled rattlesnake above the words “Don’t tread on me.” He said he is grateful to the American people for providing sophisticated weaponry so that Ukrainians can push the Russians out of his country. “We understand from this assistance that we are not alone in this fight,” he said.