Kherson, Jul 14: A HIMARS missile struck a mobile command post in southern Ukraine, killing a Russian general, spokesman for the Odessa regional military Serhiy Bratchuk revealed in a Telegram post this week.
Up to a dozen Russian senior officers were also killed in the strike on Tavriis’k, near Kherson, alongside the chief of staff of the 22nd Army Corps Major General Artem Nasbulin, The Telegraph wrote.
If confirmed, Nasbulin would be the 12th Russian general to have been killed in Ukraine since the war began, the outlet added. The Ukrainian army followed the attack with a barrage of missile and rocket strikes in Nova Khakova in the Kherson region Monday night, destroying “artillery, armored vehicles and a warehouse with ammunition.” The Telegraph estimated the attack to be the most intense in the two weeks since a series of strikes targeting Russian ammunition depots. The Russian-backed authorities confirmed the use of HIMARS by Ukrainian forces in the attack, claiming that the strikes mostly hit civilian facilities — leaving seven people dead — a toll that has not been independently verified. “There are no military targets here… warehouses were hit, as were shops, a pharmacy, petrol stations, and even a church,” AFP quoted the head of the city’s Moscow-backed administration, Vladimir Leontiev, as saying on social media. The British outlet reported that the Ukrainian military has stepped up attacks against Russian targets since the end of June.
The West has since delivered high-precision weapons, including the HIMARS, which has been “hammering Russian logistics and command posts daily.” The weapons enable Ukrainian forces to strike ammunition depots located near railway lines with great precision.