Video footage emerged online recently that shows the moment a Russian Pantsir S1 air defense system was seriously damaged by a Ukrainian-guided multiple-launch rocket system (GMLRS) strike.
The video footage, recorded on May 13th, shows a residential part of Ukraine heavily damaged by war.
The Russian missile system appears to be stationed in what used to be a private residence.
Following the strike, the missile system appears to emit a large quantity of white smoke and dust.
The clip, initially shared by the Ukrainian military, was reposted on Twitter by the popular war-tracking account, Ukraine Weapons Tracker.
“A Russian Pantsir-S1 air defence system was damaged by a GMLRS strike of the Ukrainian Army, presumably in #Luhansk Oblast,” the account writes in a post accompanying the video.
The video came just days after the 45th Separate Artillery Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces released a similar clip of a Russian Pantsir system being destroyed somewhere in Bakhmut. Ukrainian forces destroyed the Russian missile system with the help of a missile units and air reconnaissance from the 132nd Separate Reconnaissance Battalion.
“Bakhmut direction. Air reconnaissance 45 OABr discovered Pantsyr S1, in cooperation with the missile division and air reconnaissance 132 ORB complex was turned into scrap metal,” a Facebook post from the 45th Separate Artillery Brigade reads.
The clip, which was reposted to Twitter by The Eurasian Times, shows how warfare has destroyed residential areas in Ukraine and forced all residents of Bakhmut to leave the city. The Russian missile system was completely destroyed by Ukrainian forces and left abandoned in the road engulfed in flames.
The Pantsir missile system is a family of surface-to-air missile systems that have been in use since 2012. A modern Russian missile system, the Pantsir air defense system has been deployed in the Syrian Civil War, the 2014 Ukraine conflict, the Libyan Civil War, and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Pantsir missile systems have also been installed on rooftops of Moscow buildings, protecting Russia’s capital city from possible Ukrainian strikes.
Specifically, the missile systems were installed on government buildings, including the Russian Defense Ministry’s National Defense Management Center. While the missile systems have been photographed in Moscow, the Kremlin long remained remained silent on the matter, refusing to confirm whether Russia is preparing to defend itself against Ukrainian attacks.
In the wake of an alleged Ukrainian drone strike on the Kremlin, in which Pantsir missiles prevented the drones from causing any damage, the presence of Pantsir missile systems is no longer a secret.
#Ukraine: A Russian Pantsir-S1 air defence system was damaged by a GMLRS strike of the Ukrainian Army, presumably in #Luhansk Oblast.https://t.co/pVFYyiyuG4
— ???????? Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) May 15, 2023
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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.
