The Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed the latest Russian artillery installation "Malva"

The Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed the latest Russian artillery installation "Malva"

Fighters of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, along with artillerymen from an allied unit, destroyed a modern Russian self-propelled artillery system 2S43 "Malva".

A video of the combat operations was published on the page of the Special Operations Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

During aerial reconnaissance, SOF fighters detected the "Malva" at a concealed parking site. The special unit operators instantly relayed the target coordinates to the artillerymen, who delivered an accurate strike.

The "Malva" was destroyed, and as a result of ammunition detonation, an ATV used for maintaining the SPG was also damaged.

Throughout the entire time, this is only the second documented case of this rather rare artillery system being hit, which began serial production only at the end of 2023, writes Militarnyi.

Analysts at the publication speculate that the system identified by the special forces as "Malva" may actually be a newer system 2S44 "Hyacinth-K", which is based on the same chassis and is in many aspects unified with it.

Instead of the 152-mm howitzer 2A64, the wheeled system received the artillery part from the long-range gun 2A36 "Hyacinth-B", allowing it to compensate for the insufficient firing range of the "Malva". The new machine with standard high-explosive fragmentation shells is capable of hitting targets at distances up to 30.5 km. With the use of rocket-assisted shells, this figure increases to 33.1 km.