Video shows HIMARS wipe out Russian targets as Ukraine touts progress

The Ukrainian military has shared a video of Russian targets being destroyed by rockets while touting the progress of its war counteroffensive.

A video shared on Twitter on Monday by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense shows rockets from a U.S.-supplied HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, taking out multiple Russian targets including rocket launchers and howitzers.

The video features aerial images of HIMARS purportedly destroying at least three Russian BM-21 “Grad” rocket launcher systems, a “Msta-B” howitzer and a 2S7 “Pion” artillery cannon. An additional “Grad” system is shown being destroyed by artillery fire, alongside a Russian “assault group” destroyed by mines.

It was not clear whether the video showed a single HIMARS system or multiple systems purportedly destroying the Russian targets. Newsweek has not independently verified the contents of the video or any of Ukraine’s claimed battlefield advances.

An optimistic quote from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who said that Ukrainian troops had faced a “difficult” situation on the frontline last week, was shared alongside the video.

“Last week was difficult on the frontline,” Zelensky said. “But we are making progress.
We are moving forward, step by step! I thank everyone who is defending Ukraine, everyone who is leading this war to Ukraine’s victory! Glory to our heroes!”

In a Telegram post earlier on Monday, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said that Kyiv’s forces had made progress near the embattled Donetsk city of Bakhmut and towards Melitopol and Berdiansk in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Maliar said that Ukraine had regained 14.4 square miles of territory over the past week. However, she cautioned in an update shared a short time later that the situation was “rapidly” changing and the territory could again be lost.

“The situation is changing very rapidly,” Maliar wrote. “Control over the same positions can be lost and regained twice a day. The enemy actively reacts to all our actions and creates three lines of defense in threatening directions.”

The Russian military said over the weekend that it had successfully defended against a Ukrainian offensive near Bakhmut, while Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Monday said that the Wagner Group‘s recent failed mutiny attempt had no impact on Russian military operations, according to Reuters.

Retired U.S. Army General Mark Hertling dismissed suggestions that the Ukrainian counteroffensive was making progress slower than expected during a CNN interview on Monday night, arguing that slow progress was expected because Russia had left Zelenky’s forces with “complex obstacles” to overcome.

“Having seen this kind of operation in both training and in combat, it takes a long time,” said Hertling. “Everyone who’s suggesting that’s a slow movement is not taking into consideration how difficult breaching combat complex obstacles are. That is exactly what Ukraine is doing.”

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense via email for comment.