Drone footage shared on social media shows the moment that two Russian self-propelled howitzers were hit by Ukrainian counter-battery fire somewhere in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
The footage shows two 2s5 Giatsint near a hedgerow separating two fields in a rural part of the region.
The weapons, parked in gaps in the trees, are suddenly struck by Ukrainian counter-battery fire and are soon engulfed in flames.
One vehicle explodes dramatically upon impact and emits huge plums of thick smoke. Both vehicles appear to have been disabled by the strikes.
It is unknown whether the weapons were abandoned or any Russian troops were killed in the strike.
The video was shared on Twitter by popular war-tracking account Ukraine Weapons Tracker.
“Counter-battery fire from the Ukrainian 44th Artillery Brigade destroyed two Russian 2S5 Giatsint-S 152mm self-propelled guns in #Zaporizhzhia Oblast,” the account writes.
What Is the 2S5 Giatsint?
Also known as “Hyacinth,” the Giatsint 2S5 is a Soviet-era self-propelled gun that was developed in the late 1960s.
]The howitzer is considered a powerful and versatile weapon, despite being in service for decades, in part because it is capable of firing nuclear shells.
While the howitzer has never been used to fire nuclear shells, the repeated threats from the Kremlin to deploy nuclear weapons makes the Giatsint 2S5 a valuable target for Ukrainian forces.
The 2S5 is capable of firing a nuclear shell that, upon impact, creates a blast just a fraction of the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.
Throughout the conflict, however, analysts have warned of the possibility of Russian forces using less powerful nuclear weapons, or alternatively a nuclear “dirty bomb” as opposed to a large atomic weapon.
The 2S5 can also engage targets at long ranges. HE-FRAG shells can be fired over 28km, while rocket-assisted shells can reach targets up to 33km away.
#Ukraine: Counter-battery fire from the Ukrainian 44th Artillery Brigade destroyed two Russian 2S5 Giatsint-S 152mm self-propelled guns in #Zaporizhzhia Oblast. pic.twitter.com/C8zfawg4hN
— ???????? 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.
