Milley, speaking during a news conference with Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on Wednesday, said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military has not shot down any of the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Missile Systems (HIMARS). . “To this day, these systems have not been eliminated by the Russians, and I knock on wood every time I say that,” Milley told reporters. “And it is [Ukrainians are] is very effective in their use, using precision weapons against targets.’ The Defense Department has previously stated that HIMARS systems have a “significant impact on what’s going on, on the front lines” in Ukraine. On Wednesday, Austin announced during a meeting of the Defense Contact Group for Ukraine that the U.S. would send four additional M142 HIMARs to Ukraine, bringing the total to 16. In addition to the missile launchers, Austin said the Biden administration will send more munitions for HIMARS and “precision-guided artillery munitions, tactical vehicles and other urgently needed support.” Russia has so far failed to destroy any of the missile systems the US has sent to Ukraine to help it in the ongoing war, according to Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Above, Milley participates in a news briefing at the Pentagon on July 20 in Arlington, Virginia. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images Last week, Ukraine said it managed to destroy two Russian ammunition depots in the southern Ukrainian city of Nova Kakhovka using US-made HIMARS. In addition, Ukraine’s armed forces partially destroyed the vital Antonivka road bridge in the southern Kherson region after hitting it with HIMARS, the Kyiv Post reported on Wednesday. Austin praised Ukraine’s use of the weapons during a news conference Wednesday. “The Ukrainians have made excellent use of HIMARS and you can see the impact on the battlefield,” he said. Milley also stressed that the Ukrainians are “effectively using” the missile launch systems, “with strikes against Russian command and control nodes, their logistical networks, artillery range near defense sites and many other targets.” Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, also told Newsweek last week that Russian forces have been in a “state of panic” since the HIMARS arrived in Ukraine. Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, the official spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, recently told the Russian state news agency TASS that the Russian military destroyed a launcher and transport vehicle of a US HIMARS. When the Pentagon was contacted for comment on the TASS report, Newsweek referred to transcripts of recent Defense Department briefings, but could not immediately find an example referring to the allegedly damaged US-made HIMARS. Newsweek also reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment and confirmation that it did not destroy any US-supplied HIMARS.
