Ukraine War: A Handful of Western HIMARS weapons systems are a shocking game changer in Ukraine!

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[I did not realise that the Ukrainians would get so few of these really important high tech weapons. However, now that the effects of these weapons are coming to fruition, I am very impressed indeed. In total, Ukraine has received between 8 – 12 HIMARS systems. Those systems are having AMAZING effects. I had no idea those weapons would be this effective. Those HIMARS systems are moving so fast and hitting so hard that it is causing the Russians a huge amount of trouble. The war was slowing down, but now the HIMARS systems are MASSIVELY IMPAIRING Russian artillery. The NASA Fire monitoring system, which can monitor the amount of artillery fire, shows that the Russians are less and less able to fire their heavy artillery. The Russian Nationalists who have big groups of people on social media are starting to panic over the effect of these HIMARS weapons. Furthermore, it seems as if the Ukrainians are using HIMARS to fire strategically in the Kherson area, possibly in preparation for a counter-offensive. This could get very exciting. The Russian ability to move forward, despite them using virtually EVERYTHING they have, is slowing down massively. Can the Ukrainians, using Western weapons launch a mass attack in the south while keeping the Russian advances at slower than a snail's pace? I follow the battle reports daily, and I'm finding this war extremely interesting with regard to technology and weapons. Even all the Russian victories and wins, actually aren't that big. The Russians have not captured much. As I have warned from the beginning, Western weaponry is extremely impressive. The super-heavy artillery and rocket systems are amazing. Jan]

Here are some relevant quotes:-

Alarm in the Russian nationalist information space continues to grow as the pace of Russian operations slows in the face of successful Ukrainian high-mobility artillery rocket system (HIMARS) strikes on key Russian logistics and command-and-control nodes. Moscow Calling, a medium-sized Russian Telegram channel with 31,000 subscribers, posted an appraisal of the entirety of Russian operations in Ukraine since February 24.[6] Moscow Calling defined three distinct phases of the war—the first spanning from initial invasion to the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kyiv, Sumy, and Chernihiv Oblasts and the second spanning between that point and the introduction of Western-provided HIMARS.[7] Moscow Calling notably defined the arrival of HIMARS as a distinct turning point in the war and stated that previously provided Western weapons systems (such as NLAWs, Javelins, Stingers, and Bayraktars) did very little against Russian artillery bombardment (they are not designed or intended to counter artillery attack), but that HIMARS changed everything for Russian capabilities in Ukraine.[8] Moscow Calling strongly insinuated that recent Ukrainian strikes on Russian warehouses, communication hubs, and rear bases are having a devastating and potentially irreversible impact on the development of future Russian offensives.[9]

This post is consistent with previous reports from Western defense officials that Russian troops are being forced to engage in various HIMARS mitigation tactics on the battlefield, including camouflage measures and constantly changing the location of equipment groupings.[10] These mitigation tactics are impeding Russian forces from conducting the massive artillery barrages that they have widely employed over the course of the war, as evidenced by NASA Fire Information for Resource Management (FIRMS) data that shows consistently fewer observed heat anomalies over the frontline in Donbas since the introduction of HIMARS to Ukraine.

Source: https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-july-24