According to The Washington Post, Ukrainian warriors made decoys of MLRS HIMARS from a wood. They indistinguishable for the lens of Russian drones, which transmit their locations to naval cruise missile carriers in the Black Sea, the report said.
A senior Ukrainian official who spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity said that after a few weeks in the field, the decoys drew at least 10 Kalibr cruise missiles, an initial success that led Ukraine to expand the production of the replicas for broader use.
Read more: Russia May Use Iranian Drones to Hunt HIMARS MLRS in Ukraine
Last month, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered his generals to prioritize the destruction of the long-range artillery systems after they struck key Russian supply lines.
"If the Russians think they hit a HIMARS, they will claim they hit a HIMARS," said George Barros, a military researcher at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank. "Russian forces very well may be overstating their battle damage assessments after hitting HIMAR decoys."
"They’ve claimed to have hit more HIMARS than we have even sent," one U.S. diplomat observed.
Earlier this month, a Pentagon spokesman categorically denied Russia’s claims, declaring all U.S.-provided HIMARS accounted for.
"We are aware of these latest claims by Minister Shoigu, and they are again patently false," said Todd Breasseale, the Pentagon’s acting spokesman. "What is happening, however, is that the Ukrainians are employing with devastating accuracy and effectiveness each of the fully accounted for precision missile systems."
Read more: Russia Lost Three HIMARS Trackers: Hunting Resembles "To Catch the Uncatchable"
