Kyiv’s US-supplied long-range missiles are among its most valuable battlefield assets – but they are now under a dangerous new threat

Kieran Kelly

21 May 2025

Footage captured the moment a Ukrainian Himars rocket launcher was destroyed by an elite Russian drone unit just 10km (six miles) from the front line last month.

In a grainy video filmed just outside Chasiv Yar, in Donetsk, the US-supplied missile system was seen hurtling along a dirt-laden road as a Russian UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) closed in from above.

The feed cut out seconds before impact, but separate footage showed an explosion moments later, confirming one of Ukraine’s most valuable rocket systems had been destroyed.

The attack was reportedly carried out by Rubicon, the Kremlin’s elite drone warfare unit that Ukrainian soldiers have come to fear.

Previously deployed earlier this year during Russia’s brutal campaign to recapture the eastern town of Kursk, Rubicon has now been redirected to hunt Ukraine’s most valuable battlefield assets: its US-supplied long-range missiles.

There are signs it is succeeding.

Since the start of the war, Ukraine has received around 40 vital Himars systems from Washington.

The satellite-guided rocket launchers, capable of striking targets with pinpoint accuracy up to 80km away, have played a key role in blunting Russia’s advances, allowing Kyiv to pin Russia back by disrupting logistics, command hubs and ammunition depots.

Their advantage lies in the fact that they can sit deep behind the front line, out of Russian reach.

Because of their importance, it is unusual for a Himars launcher to be placed just 10km from the front line. The one that was destroyed near the war-torn town of Chasiv Yar was therefore probably being used to hit a target deep behind enemy lines.

“Himars have remained an important tactical and operational level system for the Ukrainians, particularly as it can hold Russian targets at risk some distance from the front line, affecting Russian logistics and command and control, as well as combat power,” said Tom Withington, a weapons expert at Rusi, a defence think tank.

But, following the latest destruction of the launcher near Chasiv Yar, at least four have now been lost – a small but significant dent in Ukraine’s arsenal at a time when US support appears likely to dry up.

Donald Trump’s administration has given no indication it will resupply Ukraine with new Himars systems, further raising the stakes for Ukraine over its remaining ones.

The latest method used to destroy a Himars launcher is especially concerning for Kyiv.

Unlike previous losses, which mostly resulted from missile or artillery strikes, the latest attack on one of the systems was reportedly carried out by a first-person view (FPV) drone using a fibre-optic guidance cable – a sophisticated and largely jam-proof design that signals a dangerous shift in the conflict.

Traditional FPV drones are vulnerable to Ukraine’s electronic warfare systems, which jam incoming frequencies and render them blind mid-flight.

But fibre-optic drones are physically tethered to their operators via ultra-thin cables that transmit real-time video and guidance signals.

“Fibre optic cables are basically impossible to jam,” Mr Withington said. “The cables are very small, in some cases the breadth of a human hair, so that makes them incredibly difficult to detect physically.”

Rubicon, established in October 2024 at the personal instruction of Andrei Belousov, Russia’s defence minister, has become a test bed for this type of new technology. Its drone pilots now operate in at least seven specialist detachments across eastern Ukraine, carrying out complex, decentralised missions.

The unit’s tactics are equally modern. During the Kursk offensive, Rubicon drones reportedly struck short segments of road – just 100 to 300 metres long – from multiple angles at once, catching convoys in lethal ambushes.

Some drones were embedded in road surfaces, exploding beneath passing vehicles like land mines. Others attacked head-on, targeting the front and rear vehicles to trap the rest in a kill zone.

The results were devastating, with the majority of Ukrainian troops pushed out of Kursk after the Rubicon unit destroyed their supply route.

In the process, Rubicon is believed to have disabled hundreds of Ukrainian vehicles, including M2 Bradley infantry carriers and heavily armoured MaxxPro trucks, often with fibre optic cable drones.

Ukrainian drone operators, unable to jam or outmanoeuvre them, began referring to the airspace above Kursk as the “road of death”.

The redeployment of Rubicon towards high-value weaponry like Himars marks a new and troubling phase for Ukraine.

Russia is no longer just harassing Ukraine’s supply lines in Kursk – its sights are firmly set on systematically targeting the strategic backbone of Kyiv’s long-range strike capability that it has used so effectively.

The symbolic significance of these losses is not lost on Ukraine. Himars launchers are more than just tools of war; they are symbols of Western support. Their destruction delivers a psychological blow as much as a military one.

For much of 2022 and 2023, the arrival of Himars shifted the balance on the battlefield. Ukraine used them to force Russian withdrawals from key cities, including Kherson, where a strike destroyed a Russian training camp on a beach.

But if stockpiles dwindle further and replacements are in doubt, Ukraine could lose a significant battlefield edge.

The strike near Chasiv Yar – believed to be the first destruction of a Himars launcher by a fibre optic cable drone – suggests that Russia now has the means to reach even Ukraine’s most protected assets.

If Kyiv cannot adapt quickly to this new threat, the consequences could be far-reaching.

“Years ago, I spoke to soldiers stationed in Germany during the Cold War. They said there were fields and valleys filled with wire-guided munitions… I wouldn’t be surprised if Ukraine starts ending up like that too,” Mr Withington said.

“Until a meaningful counter is developed, the uptake will just continue.”