Russian troops spent several expensive Kalibr cruise missiles to destroy the HIMARS complexes, which turned out to be wooden replicas made by the Ukrainian military.
The Washington Post reports this with reference to Ukrainian and American officials.
After the introduction of the HIMARS missile systems in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russian troops announced a real hunt.
They use recruited Ukrainians or drones to find the location of these complexes, which, as a rule, are out of the range of artillery and aviation.
“When the UAVs see the battery, it’s like a VIP target,” said a senior Ukrainian official, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles encountering long-range artillery replicas.
According to him, the Ukrainian military made several wooden replicas that look very similar to the HIMARS missile systems from the height of the drone.
It worked out. In a few weeks, the Russian military fired at least 10 Kalibr cruise missiles at these replicas.
A U.S. official added that this may be one of the reasons why the Russians claim the destruction of HIMARS.
At the same time, he stressed, the Russian military leadership reported on the destruction of more HIMARS than the Western partners handed over to Ukraine.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on August 17, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not lose a single HIMARS complex.
At the same time, the Ministry of Defense reported that with the help of missile systems transferred by partners to Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed more than 50 Russian depots with weapons and ammunition.
We also reported that the Security Service of Ukraine has already detained three "hunters" on HIMARS in Donetsk and Mykolaiv regions.
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