Ukraine’s Armed Forces on New Year’s Eve killed 400 Russian soldiers and injured at least 300 in an assault on a Russian military base in Makeyevka, an industrial city in Donetsk District in eastern Ukraine, the Strategic Communications Department of Ukraine’s military posted on Telegram. According to the Kyiv Independent, the soldiers were housed in a local school building.
But according to First Deputy Head of the Main Military-Political Department of the Russian Armed Forces Lieutenant General Sergey Sevryukov, the death toll of servicemen after the tragedy in Makeyevka reached only 89.
The Russian Defense Ministry blamed the tragedy on the irresponsible habit of Russian troops who keep using their cell phones, which gives away their location to Ukrainian smart weapons.
Sevryukov told reporters the Ukrainians struck at 12:01 AM on January 1 and used US-made HIMARS rockets. The M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) is a light multiple rocket launcher developed in the late 1990s for the US Army. It is mounted on a standard tactical vehicle’s truck frame.
HIMARS attacks by Ukraine have been credited with destroying Russian command nodes, tens of thousands of howitzer artillery rounds, and 20 million small-arms rounds. So far (as of November 11, 2022), no HIMARS systems have been destroyed.
Lockheed Martin are making out like bandits with their HIMARS. In early 2022, it was planning to manufacture 48 launchers annually, but after February’s Russian invasion of Ukraine, it increased annual production to 60, and by October 2022, it boosted production to 96 systems annually––in response to heavy demand. These days, Lockheed Martin is working on a new facility that, in a few months, would allow it to make as many as 8 HIMARS systems a month.
If you own Lockheed Martin shares – for heaven’s sake, don’t get rid of them. Right now, the price of a single HIMARS Launcher and Carrier system is $4 million. And the price of each M31 GMLR (a Precision Fires Go-To Round) is $110,000.
And all you need to kill hundreds of Russian soldiers is the signal from one cell phone to lock on…
