Ukraine HIMARS Destroys Russian Convoy Near Gas Station: Report
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Russian troops were killed in a strike by Ukraine's forces on a convoy next to an abandoned gas station using a U.S.-supplied HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System), it has been reported.
The Telegram channel ASTRA said the strike took place in Makiivka, within the occupied Donetsk region last week and posted video that purportedly showed the aftermath of burning vehicles on the side of the road.
Newsweek could not independently verify the footage and has contacted the Russian Defense Ministry for comment.
This image from May 18, 2023 shows a M142 HIMARS launch a rocket in the Bakhmut direction in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.
This image from May 18, 2023 shows a M142 HIMARS launch a rocket in the Bakhmut direction in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.Why It Matters
Ukrainian media outlets reported the strike, which shows the continuing role that the U.S-supplied weapon still plays on the battlefield. It comes as Kyiv's forces made gains near Makiivka, according to the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
What To Know
ASTRA reported that the Ukrainian HIMARS hit the Russian convoy in a strike in Makiivka on June 13 around 20 miles from the front line in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. The strike also destroyed a Russian Defense Ministry bus, and military vehicles.
The wheeled HIMARS fired several rockets and hit the convoy with hundreds of thousands of tungsten fragments, according to a clip of the incident's aftermath posted by X account WarTranslated.
Ukrainian media reports said eight Russian servicemen were killed and another 12 were injured. Most were in military unit 71443.
Two civilians were also killed, ASTRA said next to footage filmed from a vehicle driving past the scene, which shows a column of cars, a large fire and a hole in the road.
In its update on Sunday, the ISW said that geolocated footage published showed that Ukrainian forces had recently advanced northwest of Makiivka.
Ukraine continues to use HIMARS on the battlefield. In February this year, the weapon was reported to be behind a strike on a Russian military headquarters in Selydove in the Donetsk region, which killed a large number of commanders.
Overnight Monday, a Russian attack on Kyiv killed at least 15 people and injured 124 others during a nine-hour long barrage of kamikaze attack drones, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles.
What People Are Saying
The pro-Ukrainian Euromaidan X channel: "In occupied Makiivka, the Russians gathered in a column. In vain. Because Mr. HIMARS came."
Ukrainian X user Maria Drutska, next to purported footage of the strike's aftermath: "The occupiers are scattered along the road."
What Happens Next
Ukraine's forces are likely to continue using HIMARS to strike at Russian targets. The military analyst David Axe said in a Substack article that Russian convoys are the kinds of target Ukraine's roughly three dozen surviving HIMARS are looking to target.
However, Russian drone crews are improving their strikes on HIMARS, with Moscow's Iskander missile batteries able to hit them up to 57 miles away, he added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Axios
9 minutes ago
- Axios
A defense-tech perfect storm brews in Europe
If there's any moment Europe should double down on its own defense, it's today. The big picture: European policymakers don't trust Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop at Ukraine, and they can no longer count on the U.S. to protect and arm its NATO allies indefinitely. There's suddenly a lot more money for defense, and a keen interest in accelerating domestic manufacturing. NATO boss Mark Rutte called for a 400% spending increase for air-and-missile defenses, arguing a "quantum leap" is necessary to remain relevant. Meanwhile, President Trump bangs the burden-sharing drum. Stateside defense-tech companies are looking to expand. Chatter of Europe's rearming could serve as a springboard. Driving the news: There is a distinct national-security twist to this year's Paris Air Show, among the highest-profile aerospace get-togethers in the world. Defense News reported that 45% of the show is dedicated to defense and security — a "strong increase" from the previous show in 2023. But there is little Pentagon presence. "We're hearing this directly from European countries: 'We don't know if we can rely on the United States to actually supply us weapons,'" Firestorm Labs CEO Dan Magy said in an interview. "So how they're solving that problem is they're desperately looking to onshore or near-shore — whatever you want to say — their manufacturing." Inside the room: Analysts and executives Axios chatted with see urgency, opportunity and nuance. "The issue for European countries is less about finding the money and resources for defense ... and more about how to spend the funds effectively and in ways that ensure European defense readiness, technological edge and sovereignty, and deterrence, while ensuring interoperability with allies and partners," Federico Borsari, an expert at theCenter for European Policy Analysis, told Axios. "As Europeans rethink and modernize the continent's entire defense ecosystem," he said, "it's essential to avoid following a marketing-centric and techno-fetishist approach." Trae Stephens, a partner at Founders Fund and the executive chairman at Anduril Industries, separately told Axios there are "tremendous opportunities in Europe." Anduril and Germany's Rheinmetall on Wednesday announced a partnership through which European variants of the Barracuda missile and Fury robo-wingman will be produced. Solid rocket motors are on the table, too. Stephens said he would "love to see" one of his company's Arsenal mega-factories "built in continental Europe." (Its first, Arsenal-1, will be erected in Columbus, Ohio.) Yes, but: All these good omens could unravel because of the most universal of challenges: workforce. Competition for top tech talent and skilled tradesmen haunts industries and militaries alike. "It is increasingly clear that Europe faces critical talent scarcity," Randstad CEO Sander van 't Noordende told Axios. (Randstad is among the world's largest recruitment-and-staffing businesses.) "Increased defense spending, while a strategic necessity, will be severely limited without a corresponding investment in human capital," he said. "The growing mismatch between defense investment and workforce readiness demands urgent action." Van 't Noordende in a piece for Fortune this month said Europe has more than 17 million "skilled professionals in adjacent industries" who could make the jump to defense with proper guidance. The bottom line: Increased resources for defense in Europe are a good thing, as "we're stronger together than we are separately," Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) told a small group of reporters at the air show. "It's been a priority of this administration in the United States, obviously, to increase European defense spending, and we're seeing a response to that." "If you combine the United States with Europe — whether it's on the economic front or the national security front — we are a lot more formidable," she added. "That's how we should be operating."
Yahoo
14 minutes ago
- Yahoo
EU diplomat warns that Russia has a plan for long-term aggression against Europe
Russia poses a direct threat to the European Union through acts of sabotage and cyber attacks, but its massive military spending suggests that President Vladimir Putin also plans to use his armed forces elsewhere in the future, the EU's top diplomat warned. 'Russia is already a direct threat to the European Union,' EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. She listed a series of Russian airspace violations, provocative military exercises, and attacks on energy grids, pipelines and undersea cables. Ms Kallas noted that Russia is already spending more on defence than the EU's 27 nations combined, and this year will invest more 'on defence than its own healthcare, education and social policy combined'. 'This is a long-term plan for a long-term aggression. You don't spend that much on (the) military, if you do not plan to use it,' Ms Kallas told EU politicians in Strasbourg, France. 'Europe is under attack and our continent sits in a world becoming more dangerous,' she added. Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte has said that Russia is producing as much weapons and ammunition in three months as the 32 allies together make in a year. He believes that Russia could be in a position to launch an attack on a Nato ally by the end of the decade. The acts of sabotage and cyber attacks are mostly aimed at undermining European support for Ukraine, military officers and experts have said. But concern is mounting in Europe that Russia could try to test Nato's Article 5 security guarantee — the pledge that an attack on any one of the allies would be met with a collective response from all 32. In 2021, Nato allies acknowledged that significant and cumulative cyber attacks might, in certain circumstances, also be considered an armed attack that could lead them to invoke Article 5, but so far no action has been taken. With the Trump administration now turning its sights on security challenges in the Middle East and China, Europe has been left to fend for itself, and for Ukraine, and finds itself in a more precarious position. Last week, the head of Germany's foreign intelligence service (BND), Bruno Kahl, warned against underestimating Russian intentions toward the West and Nato. 'We are very certain, and we have intelligence evidence for this, that Ukraine is just a step on the path to the West,' Mr Kahl told the Table Today podcast on June 9, according to German news agency dpa. Russia's goal is to expand its sphere of influence westward, the BND chief said. 'They want to catapult Nato back to the state it was in at the end of the 1990s. They want to kick America out of Europe, and they'll use any means to achieve that,' Mr Kahl said. He warned that 'this must be nipped in the bud,' and that deterrence is the 'most bloodless way' to prevent war. Nato countries are set to agree a new defence investment pledge at a summit in the Netherlands next week, pouring billions of dollars more into security-related spending.
Bloomberg
30 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Ukraine's Parliament Backs Law Allowing Multiple Citizenships
Ukraine's lawmakers passed a law that allows Ukrainians to hold multiple citizenships as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy seeks to strengthen ties with the diaspora and fix a demographic crisis. Ukrainians will now be allowed to obtain citizenship of other countries, apart from 'aggressor states' such as Russia. Foreigners from nations deemed friendly to Kyiv may also obtain Ukrainian citizenship after they pass a language test and demonstrate knowledge of the country's history and constitution.
