HIMARS Strike: Russian Ammunition Depots Struck AGAIN In Nova Kakhovka – Ukrainian strikes on a Russian ammunition depot in Nova Khovka reportedly occurred again on Friday night, potentially taking out valuable Russian weapons and ammunition as the country’s military faces increasing pressure from U.S.-supplied HIMARS artillery systems.
The HIMARS strike occurred in Russian-occupied Kherson.
Video footage shared on Telegram on Friday night, apparently recorded on a cell phone, shows large explosions in the distance. Recorded at night, the blackness of the sky is briefly illuminated with an orange glow.
“A Russian ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka has reportedly been struck tonight,” war analyst Rob Lee noted on Twitter.
A Russian ammunition depot in Nova Kakhovka has reportedly been struck tonight. https://t.co/FzYr4X58zIhttps://t.co/bCU5rh2Yeg pic.twitter.com/JsRqH7HyG8
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) July 29, 2022
Additional footage also shared on a Russian-language Telegram account showed the explosion in more detail. The two-second-long clip shows smoke rising in the air, the aftermath of one strike, before another strike occurs and creates another explosion.
“The moment of the explosion of ammunition in New Kakhovka,” the Telegram post accompanying the video reads.
According to local reports, residents in nearby towns have been advised by authorities to move away from windows. Previous strikes were known to cause windows in nearby buildings to shatter and smash.
Strikes Rocked Russia Earlier This Month
It’s not the first time that ammunition depots have been destroyed by Ukrainian troops using Western-supplied rocket systems like HIMARS.
On July 12, at least seven people were killed and more than 70 wounded when Ukrainian forces launched a missile strike in Nova Kakhovka, targeting a Russian ammunition depot. Russian officials in the region confirmed that American HIMARS missiles destroyed warehouses in the area that contained saltpeter a chemical used to make fertilizer and gunpowder.
Ukraine followed up the strike with an additional attack a week later when an ammunition warehouse was destroyed in the same region.
On July 18, video footage of a fresh strike on ammunition warehouses in the region circulated online, and Ukrainian officials confirmed the destruction of several pieces of Russian weaponry.
“According to the results of firing missions by our rocket and artillery units, the enemy lost 52 militants, rocket launchers, a howitzer ‘Msta-B,’ a mortar, seven units of armored and motor vehicles, and a warehouse with ammunition in Nova Kakhovka”, a statement from Ukrainian officials revealed.
The strikes have Russia panicked, too.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a cabinet meeting to discuss the effectiveness of the Western-supplied long-range rocket systems. The same week, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed that more than 100 American missiles destined to be used by Ukraine’s HIMARS rocket systems were destroyed in Russian strikes.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
