American-supplied Himars missile launchers have destroyed more than 50 Russian ammunition dumps since they arrived on the battlefield last month, Ukraine’s defence minister said.
Oleksiy Reznikov told Ukrainian television that the “scalpel”-like accuracy of the missiles had significantly eroded Russia’s supply chains and its ability to conduct “active fighting and cover our armed forces with heavy shelling”.
“We are talking about fifty sites in terms of ammunition storage locations alone,” he told Ukrainian television.
“Our gunners use Himars very precisely - like a surgeon with a scalpel,” he told Ukrainian television.
“And you can even see this in the photos of some bridge crossings where [the shells] are very accurately placed in the area of the seams of the bridge connections.”
He did not give specific details, but Ukraine has struck three bridges across the Dnieper in Russian-occupied Kherson in recent days.
Those strikes appear to be designed to isolate Russian units on the right bank of the Dnieper, as a Ukrainian counter-offensive with the aim of taking back control of Kherson picks up steam.
Russia’s defence ministry on Monday said it destroyed a Ukrainian depot containing Himars ammunition.
The United States sent Ukraine eight High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems since late June, with another four promised. Pentagon officials said last week they would send four more, bringing the total number to 16.
The truck-borne rocket launchers are longer range and more accurate than the Soviet-era artillery Ukraine has previously relied on.
They can also fire and move in just two minutes, making them difficult for Russia to find or hit with counter-battery fire.
Rather than strike Russian frontline units, the Ukrainians have used the weapons to target command posts and large ammunition depots in the hope of disrupting command and control and starving Russia’s artillery of shells.
Russia’s two-month offensive in the Donbas was heavily dependent on overwhelming artillery fire.
Mr Reznikov’s remarks are the first time a Ukrainian official has put a number on the Russian targets destroyed by that campaign.
Ukrainian troops have reported a sharp drop off in shelling and casualties in the east of the country.
Front-line shelling ‘10x less than before’
Bogdan Dmitruk, a battalion commander in Ukraine’s 93rd mechanised brigade, told the Washington Post on Saturday that shelling on the front line near Izyum is now “10 times less” than before.
Data from Nasa’s FIRMS fire-monitoring service also shows a significant drop in blazes along the line of contact over the past two weeks, suggesting a reduction in shelling.
Russia said on Monday it had destroyed a Ukrainian warehouse holding ammunition for the system in the Khmelnytskyi region in western Ukraine.
It has previously claimed to have destroyed a number of the Himars launchers, a claim Ukraine and the United States have both denied.