According to a prominent Russian war blogger, Ukraine's HIMARS are now being used on the front lines to attack Russian positions in the south of the country.

HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) are being deployed "without hesitation, to be used on the very front" in regions such as eastern Donetsk and southern Zaporizhzhya, according to Kremlin propagandist Semyon Pegov, who operates the WarGonzo Telegram account.

Ukraine Counteroffensive

Since the summer of 2022, Ukraine has utilized HIMARS. Per Newsweek, the multiple rocket launchers on wheels arrived in Ukraine in June 2022, and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksandr Reznikov lauded them as "powerful instruments."

In late July 2022, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, declared that "HIMARS and other precision weapons are altering the course of the conflict in our favor."

In addition to ammunition for the artillery systems, the US has provided Ukraine with 38 HIMARS as part of its military assistance packages. Uncertainty remains as to whether Ukraine has launched its long-anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces.

On Monday, the Russian defense ministry reported that Ukraine had launched a "large-scale offensive" on Sunday, targeting "five front sectors."

Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, the director of the Wagner Group of mercenaries fighting in Ukraine, stated earlier this week that Ukrainian forces "have already burst through the line of defense" in several areas. Vladimir Rogov, the leader of the pro-Moscow "We Are Together With Russia" movement, informed state media on Thursday that Kyiv had conducted counteroffensive operations in southern Zaporizhzhia for up to four days.

The chairman of Ukraine's Defense and Security Council denied that the counteroffensive had begun. Kyiv has largely remained silent regarding its operations. On Wednesday, the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar reported that Ukrainian forces had advanced between 200 and 1,100 meters in several areas near the contested city of Bakhmut in Donetsk.

As the conflict threatens to return home to Russia, the frontlines appear to be in serious disarray, as local mismanagement, military infighting, and callous disregard indicate to serious problems. There were warning indications that Russia was perilously overextended along the potential frontlines of a Ukrainian counteroffensive weeks before the Dnipro River was unleashed on the town south of Nova Kakhovka.

As irregular Ukrainian-backed insurgent groups conduct cross-border raids, Russian forces have effectively abandoned a number of minor towns and villages in the Belgorod border region. Once a sideshow, the paramilitaries, which include many Russians with far-right ties fighting against the Kremlin, have successfully captured and held territory within Russia, according to Guardian.

Shebekino, a Russian town of approximately 45,000 inhabitants, has effectively become a frontline city and has been subjected to intense shelling; all but about 500 residents have fled the frontier region.

The Russian Volunteer Corps, an anti-Kremlin militia, asserted that it had captured Novaya Tavolzhanka, one of the region's major localities. Even convicts were seized, including a 23-year-old chef from the Pskov region who claimed to be a conscript.

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Russia-Ukraine War Intensifies

The regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, acknowledged on Monday that Russian forces "cannot access the village," confirming that they had temporarily lost control of a Russian town. The border region appears mainly unprotected in many respects. Reporters in Shebekino described conditions comparable to those in Ukrainian frontline towns under Russian occupation, observing that the conflict had never been closer.

Maryana Naumova, a Kremlin-aligned journalist who visited Shebekino this week, remarked that wearing a flak vest and helmet inside Russia, ancient Russia is highly unusual. Evacuees have reported receiving little to no assistance from authorities, who have been conspicuously absent in managing the chaos near the border.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces intensified attacks in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia in what a senior US official said Thursday appeared to be the primary thrust of a Ukrainian counteroffensive, a long-awaited operation with high stakes for Kyiv and its Western allies.

The assessment was made days after combat in the Donetsk region to the east prompting American officials to speculate that a counteroffensive had begun. The US official who spoke on Thursday asked to remain anonymous in order to disclose operational details.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced that Moscow's forces had repelled a Ukrainian attack near Novodarivka in southern Zaporizhia. There was no immediate response from Ukrainian officials, who have stated they will not comment on the counteroffensive's specifics due to operational confidentiality.

Per NY Times, US and Ukrainian officials have stated that the counteroffensive will entail assaults at multiple locations, as Ukrainian forces probe Russia's defensive lines for vulnerabilities.

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