Remember when Ukrainian forces destroyed a Soviet-era Russian artillery gun?

In August 2024, footage of Ukrainian forces destroying an older Soviet-era artillery gun on the frontlines was published online. However, it wasn'r the first time that Ukraine destroyed one of these decades-old artillery systems.

The 25th Airborne Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces published combat footage on their social media of drone operators destroying an older Giatsint-S 152mm self-propelled artillery gun in the Pokrovsk sector 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Mil.ru, CC BY 4.0

The Ukrainian military news website Militarnyi reported the brigade probably spotted the Russian gun using reconnaissance drones and decided to destroy the weapon with first-person view drones to knock out the artillery position. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vitaly V. Kuzmin, CC BY-SA 4.0

The footage showed that the Giatsint-S was placed in a firing position hidden near a forest treeline in the Donetsk region. More than one drone struck the gun, which the brigade claimed it destroyed. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @Airborne1126

“Judging by the footage, the propellant charges could have caught fire inside or near the vehicle, causing the Giatsint-S self-propelled gun to burn out,” Militarnyi noted, adding it wasn't the first time Ukrainian troops destroyed such a system. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @Airborne1126

“The Ukrainian Defense Forces have repeatedly destroyed such Russian artillery systems,” Militarnyi explained. “They have used a variety of weapons, including various drones and high-precision artillery or rocket launchers.”

Photo Credit: Telegram @Airborne1126

On July 14th, The Come Back Alive Foundation published a short video on social media that showed Ukrainian artillery soldiers destroying a Giatsint-S artillery gun near the village of Voskresenka in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Photo Credit: Telegram @savelifeua

The older Soviet-era weapon was taken out by opposing Ukrainian artillery troops after it was spotted by an overhead Shark reconnaissance drone hiding in a tree line, a situation not unlike the most recent incident reported by the 25th Brigade.

Photo Credit: Telegram @savelifeua

Militarnyi reported on the story at the time and suggested that it was more than likely the Russian artillery gun was hit with "high-precision munitions." In the video, the gun appeared to be attacked by a kamikaze drone.

Militarnyi also reported that the Come Back Alive Foundation noted in its post on Telegram that it was Ukraine's 44th Separate Artillery Brigade that destroyed the Giatsint-S in the footage published by the foundation.

Images of a disabled Giatsint-S gun emerged on social media in June 2024 as well. However, reports at the time offered few details about what happened to the older weapon, though media analysis later suggested the artillery gun was destroyed by a self-inflated wound. 

Militarnyi reported that the Giatsint-S was in a combat position somewhere on the frontlines in Ukraine and was equipped with anti-drone screens, though that didn't prevent the artillery gun from allegedly destroying itself. 

Based on the images published by Russian Telegram channels, Militarnyi concluded that the artillery system was most likely destroyed by an explosion of a shell in its barrel. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @lost_warinua

“This indicates that Russian artillerymen were firing at Ukrainian positions, but lost their self-propelled gun due to an abnormal fuse or ‘malfunction," Militarnyi explained. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @lost_warinua

Any casualties or injuries related to the incident were unknown at the time but the images published online showed that the artillery piece likely could not be repaired due to the damage caused by the explosion. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @lost_warinua

“The self-propelled gun is likely beyond repair due to significant damage to the chassis from the explosion and subsequent burning,” Militarnyi noted about the disabled system. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @lost_warinua

The Giatsint-S isn’t one of Russia’s more important or advanced pieces of self-propelled artillery but it is a rather effective weapon when it comes to counter-battery operations. 

A Giatsint-S can be used to knock out enemy artillery but is also employed in destroying firing points and field fortifications. The artillery system can even be used as an anti-tank system. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By ShinePhantom, CC BY-SA 3.0

Army Recognition reported that the Giatsint-S first went into service in the Soviet Union in late 1968 but the 2S5 variant of the gun began being deployed by the Kremlin and several other countries in 1976. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By One half 3544, Own Work, Public Domain

The Giatsint-S can fire conventional ammunition upwards of 28.4 kilometers or about 17 miles, and it can boost its range to 37 kilometers or 22 miles with advanced ammunition. 

Photo Credit: Wiki Commons By Vitaly V. Kuzmin, CC BY-SA 4.0

Although Ukrainian forces didn’t knock out the Giatsint-S reportedly disabled in June, they have destroyed at least 78 systems as of December 21st, 2024 according to the open-source intelligence firm Oryx published, which has been tracking verifiable equipment losses for both sides via photo and video evidence.    

Combat footage released by the 73rd Maritime Special Operations Center in April 2024 showed Ukrainian troops destroying a Giatsint-S with an American-supplied Himars system. 

Photo Credit: Facebook @usofcom

“The Russian gun was spotted during reconnaissance operations in the southern sector,” Militarnyi reported, adding the coordinates of the system were passed to a missile unit. 

Photo Credit: Facebook @usofcom

The Giatsint-S was targeted and then struck with a missile that exploded overtop of the artillery system and released several metal balls contained inside the missile’s warhead. 

Photo Credit: Facebook @usofcom

“The Russian gun managed to make only a few shots. After that, it was completely destroyed by HIMARS fire,” the Ukrainian troops said according to a translation from a separate Militarnyi report on the April incident. 

Photo Credit: Facebook @usofcom

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