Russian Forces Targeted Ukrainian Artillery Battery in Ambush on Dnieper Front: What Happened?

On June 14, Russian forces carried out a raid on the HIMARS and M270 Ukrainian complex, targeting a battery carrying ATACMS missiles that was preparing to fire. According to a battlefield report from the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Dnieper wing units destroyed the M142 HIMARS and M270 MLRS rocket artillery complexes, along with a 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled gun in the Dnipro province.

The specific type of weapon and location of the raid were not disclosed by the Russian army, but it is known that the Dnieper army wing operates in the Kherson front and part of Zaporizhzhia province. Russia also announced the destruction of Ukraine’s ATACMS launcher that was about to be fired during an Iskander missile attack on a target suspected to be a Ukrainian M270 complex on June 14.

On June 15, Russian media published a video showing an attack on a target believed to be an M270 complex that was preparing to fire an ATACMS ballistic shell in the area near the city of Zaporizhzhia. The M270 MLRS system carrying the ATACMS shell was detected and destroyed by Iskander tactical ballistic missiles before it could launch any projectiles.

Ukrainian air defense allowed at least three Iskander-M ballistic missiles and one Kinzhal hypersonic projectile to enter Ukrainian airspace in the early morning of June 14. The flight data of Russian missiles and UAVs published by Ukrainian media indicated that the Iskander-M missiles launched from the Crimean peninsula targeted the Zaporizhzhia area, but it is unclear whether they were aimed at the HIMARS and M270 MLRS complexes mentioned by