L’Ukraine would have destroyed one of the most advanced anti-aircraft missile systems in the Russia. Using a HIMARSKiev would have managed to hit and neutralize a mobile command post 55K6Ean integral part of the long-range surface-to-air missile system S-400 of Moscow. The news was relaunched on social media and reported by various military sites but the whole story is still shrouded in fog. If the indiscretion were to be confirmed, it would be the first attack of its kind – which took place between 1 and 2 June – after Washington authorized Kiev to use US-supplied weapons to attack Russian territory.
The Ukraine strike
Photographs of a vehicle destroyedtaken in the Belgorod region of Russia, appear to show a successful strike against what experts described as the “brain of the system [S-400]“. The S-400 system is “of very high value, it is usually found well behind the front lines, where other artillery cannot reach, and destroying it improves the tactical position allowing Ukrainian drones and planes to fly more freely“explained military expert David Hambling.
The S-400 would be used by Russian forces to intercept rockets fired from HIMARS. It cannot therefore be ruled out that a direct duel between the two systems. “The S-400 may have shot down several incoming rockets, but missing one was enough to seal its fate“, Hambling speculated. Recall that Russia developed the S-400 system to replace the older S-300.
Specifically, theS-400 Triumph is a mobile platform that the Center for Strategic and International Studies defined it as “approximately comparable to the US Patriot system“. Russian state military exporter Rosoboronexport instead described the S-400 as capable of destroying all types of aerial targets and ballistic missiles. The Kremlin joker has an estimated range of around 400 kilometers and entered service in 2007.
The Kiev HIMARS
The United States provided 38 HIMARS to Ukraine in their military aid packages, as well as ammunition for artillery systems. Washington also sent a Patriot air defense battery to the Ukrainian armed forces. As regards the red lines traced by Washington, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, the US has not given nor will give Ukraine permission to use long-range ATACMS missiles inside Russia.
“The president recently instructed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use US-supplied weapons for counterfire purposes in the Kharkiv region, so that Ukraine can respond to Russian forces that are attacking it or are preparing to attack, an American official said, but our policy of prohibiting the use of Atacms or long-range attacks inside Russia has not changed“explained an anonymous official.
The weapons that the United States will allow the Ukrainians to
uses in the Kharkiv region would include the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, or GMLRS, and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, and artillery systems, U.S. officials said.
