Video Shows Russian Msta-S in Flames After Trying To Hide From HIMARS

Ukraine has used Western-supplied HIMARS to target a Russian Msta-S self-propelled howitzer attempting to blend into the Ukrainian landscape, new footage appears to show.

The footage, shared by Ukraine's Defense Ministry and attributed to the country's special forces, was filmed on the left, or east bank of the Dnieper River snaking through southern Ukraine's Kherson region.

"There is no getting away from Ukrainian HIMARS," Kyiv said.

The U.S. has provided 39 HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, to Ukraine in its military aid packages. Kyiv officials have lauded the impact of HIMARS since they arrived in the war-torn country in June 2022.

The brief clip appears to show the Msta-S moving through a wooded area before stopping underneath tree cover before bursting into flames. The video looks to have been filmed by an airborne Ukrainian drone. Kyiv often uses drones for reconnaissance and targeting alongside equipment like HIMARS.

Newsweek could not independently verify the footage posted by Ukraine's government, and it is not clear when the video was filmed.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

Ukraine made sweeping gains in Kherson in its first counteroffensive in late 2022, pushing Russian forces back to the east bank of the Dnieper River that has roughly marked the front lines in the region throughout 2023.

Kyiv's forces have been pressing Russian defenses on the east bank, establishing pockets of control in villages such as Krynky for the past few months.

Ukraine's troops have maintained positions on the east bank, with "no changes to the frontline in the area" as of Saturday, according to the U.S. think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Russian forces are attempting "to knock out our units from positions on the left bank," Ukraine's southern forces said on Sunday.

Earlier this month, Moscow's military said its 810th Naval Infantry Brigade—belonging to Russia's Black Sea Fleet—had employed a "radical change" in tactics and deployed chemical weapons around the Kherson village of Krynky since mid-December. The brigade said it had "successfully tested" dropping K-51 grenades from drones onto Ukrainian positions on the east bank.

K-51 aerosol grenades contain CS-gas, a type of chemical commonly used to control rioting crowds, the ISW has previously said. Russian soldiers in southern Ukraine have been using a form of CS gas against Kyiv's troops, a Ukrainian official told CNN earlier this month.

Both Russia and Ukraine have accused one another of using chemical weapons throughout the war in the country. An adviser to the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic said earlier this year that Ukraine used such weaponry around the ruined eastern village of Soledar and the destroyed city of Bakhmut, without providing evidence. Ukraine denied the claim.

Soldiers from the Russian 810th Naval Infantry Brigade arrived in Krynky in early October, and likely took over from Russia's 18th Combined Arms Army in the area, according to the ISW.

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