Ukraine has used its M142 high-mobility artillery rocket systems, or HIMARS, to strike dozens of Russian command and control sites, ammunition depots and other targets as it launches a counteroffensive to take over the key southern city of Kherson. In a Pentagon briefing on Friday, an unnamed senior military official praised Ukraine’s use of HIMARS and its military’s ability to shoot down Russian jets and prevent Moscow’s forces from targeting Kiev’s planes. “We know they were able to hit surface-to-air missile sites and destroy some SAMs,” the official said, according to the Air Force magazine. A U.S. soldier with an M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launcher vehicle during a military exercise in southeastern Morocco on June 9, 2021. The Pentagon said the weapons prevented Russia from gaining air superiority in the war in Ukraine. FADEL SENNA/Getty Images “The fact that the Russians continue to have no air superiority certainly speaks volumes about the kind of will the Ukrainians have,” the official added. The US has delivered 12 HIMARS to Ukraine and will provide an additional four. However, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said his country would need “at least 100” HIMARS to reverse Russian gains in the Donbas region. Meanwhile, Kyiv has also asked the US and its Western allies to provide fighter jets and the training to fly them. This month, US Air Force Chief of Staff General Charles K. Brown Jr. said this was under consideration, referring to the Gripen jets from Sweden, the French-made Dassault Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon made by various countries. Ukrainian Air Force officials said they want their pilots to train on the US F-16 fighter jet, and when asked why they had not yet been trained, the Pentagon official said no decision had been made on providing the aircraft. “We’re looking at this issue,” the official said, “it’s important to identify what the platforms are and what the platforms are going to be and make sure you’re providing the right kind of training.” In the meantime, the US will help transport “critical spare parts” to keep Ukraine’s Soviet-era MiG and Sukhoi jets flying, the report said. Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry for comment. It comes as British defense officials said Ukraine had successfully repelled small-scale Russian attacks near the city of Donetsk in the Donbass region. The UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Russian forces had likely set up two pontoon bridges and a ferry system over the Dnipro River near Kherson to compensate for Kyiv destroying nearby bridges in recent raids using US-supplied rockets . With Kherson at the center of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday it had killed several Russian soldiers and destroyed two ammunition depots in fighting in the area. Ukraine said more than 100 Russian soldiers and seven tanks were destroyed in Friday’s fighting in the region and that rail traffic over the river has been disrupted, possibly further isolating Russian forces west of the river from supplies in Crimea and further east, it said. Reuters. .