Watch Ukrainian Troops Destroy Russia Self-Propelled Mortar in Bakhmut – Video footage shared online this week shows the Ukrainian National Guard taking out a Russian 2S9 Nona self-propelled mortar with ease.
Ukrainian forces destroyed the military vehicle with artillery fire somewhere near Bakhmut.
The video, recorded by a rotary-blade UAV, shows a Ukrainian village and identifies a Russian 2S9 Nona hidden in the hedges and trees beside a housing estate.
The video then pans to a shot of the vehicle in flames in those bushes. Seconds later, a clip shows the flaming vehicle erupt into bigger flames in what appears to be an impact explosion caused by artillery fire.
The explosion left behind a large black cloud that lingered in the sky, and the final shots in the video show the mangled vehicle left surrounded by large craters in the ground.
Ukraine Weapons Tracker, a popular war-tracking Twitter account, shared the video on Wednesday and said that the vehicle was destroyed somewhere near the embattled city of Bakhmut.
“A Russian 2S9 Nona self-propelled mortar was destroyed by artillery fire of the Ukrainian National Guard in the vicinity of Bakhmut, #Donetsk Oblast,” Ukraine Weapons Tracker writes.
As is common with videos of this nature, the footage is accompanied by dramatic music designed to taunt pro-Kremlin viewers. Videos like this have been released frequently by both the Russian and Ukrainian governments since the outbreak of the war and are not only designed to show the damage being caused by the war but also to demonstrate the power of each country’s respective military.
You can watch the video here.
What Is the 2S9 Nona?
Developed during the Soviet Union and entered into service in 1981, the 2S9 Nona is a Russian air-droppable, self-propelled mortar.
The 120mm mortar was used in the Soviet-Afghan War, Russo-Georgian War, and Syrian Civil War before it was deployed by the Russians in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The vehicle is amphibious, meaning it can be propelled through water with rear-mounted water jets and driven on the ground much like a tank. The 2S9 Nona carries four soldiers and is equipped with a 120mm 2A51 mortar alongside a 1.8-meter barrel.
Losing any military vehicle at this stage is a problem for the Russians, even with its top domestic tank manufacturer pumping out as many T-90Ms as possible.
Self-propelled mortars are not only an essential vehicle for Russian troops but a vital weapon on the frontlines – particularly in Bakhmut, where the scale and scope of the fighting have intensified dramatically in recent weeks.
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Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
