Russian Troops Suffer Third Mass Casualty HIMARS Attack in a Week

Russia's military has suffered a third mass casualty High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) attack in a week, according to local reports.

Russian and Ukrainian Telegram channels reported Wednesday that Kyiv's military targeted a large group of Russian servicemen with U.S.-supplied HIMARS during a military awards ceremony in the village of Yelenovka, in Ukraine's Donetsk region.

A Russian Telegram user who claimed to be an employee of a branch of the Russian special services said that 19 Russian troops, including three officers, were killed, and a further 12 were injured in the attack. Ukraine hasn't claimed responsibility.

Newsweek contacted the defense ministries of Russia and Ukraine for comment by email.

U.S.-supplied HIMARS have allowed Ukraine to destroy Russia's most advanced anti-aircraft missile systems. In October 2023, footage purportedly showed the aftermath of a HIMARS strike on a Russian battalion.

Ukraine's military also carried out two separate attacks on large groups of Russian troops using HIMARS last week.

In the second attack, the Ukrainian OSINT project DeepState reported that Kyiv attacked a training ground located near the village of Podo-Kalynivka in occupied Kherson. The BBC Russian Service, citing a source in the Ukrainian special services, reported that the attack took place in the same location.

Ukrainian publication Zerkalo Nedeli reported that at least 60 Russian troops were killed in the Kherson attack.

"Mass liquidation of Russians near Podo-Kalynivka in the Kherson region," said Serhii Sternenko, a Ukrainian activist in a post on X, formerly Twitter, adding that "not everyone survived" the HIMARS strike.

"Another Ukrainian HIMARS/GMLRS strike on Russians assembled on a training ground, this time in Kherson," wrote Jimmy Rushton, a Kyiv-based foreign policy and security analyst. "A significant number of casualties are clearly visible."

Hours earlier, Serhiy Bratchuk, a Ukrainian official in southern Ukraine, said Kyiv's forces attacked a training area for Russian troops close to the Donetsk city of Volnovakha with HIMARS.

The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based think tank, said in its latest analysis of the conflict in Ukraine on Wednesday that Russian milbloggers appear "increasingly concerned" over such attacks.

They are growing concerned that "Ukrainian forces are able to exploit poor Russian operational security practices (such as large gatherings in near-rear areas under Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance) using well-timed and well-targeted HIMARS strikes, which continue to generate discontent in the Russian information space," the ISW said.

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