Insane moment Ukraine's new NATO weapon wipes out £630m Russian missile battery (2024)

Ukraine's new ATACM missiles wiped out a Russian S400 air defence battery. (Image: X)

Insane combat footage shows the moment a £630m Russian S400 air defence battery is wiped out by new long-range weapons provided to Ukraine.

The US ATACAMS missiles reportedly destroyed four batteries and a radar system - video of the strike shared on the Ukrainian Telegram Channel Tivaz Division appears to show cluster munitions released over the firing Russia missiles before the scene erupts in a fireball.

Ukraine used the long-range ballistic missiles - provided secretly by the United States - for the first time last month, in the bombing of a Russian military airfield in Crimea and Russian forces in another occupied area, according to US officials.

The ATACMS was included in a new military aid package signed by President Joe Biden in April, and Ukraine nearly doubled the striking distance - up to 300 kilometres (190 miles) — that it had with the mid-range version of the weapon that it received from Washington last October.

The missiles were also reportedly used by Kyiv's forces to target a Russian communications hub in the city of Alushta in occupied Crimea, in an attack that caused "significant damage to equipment," and inflicted numerous casualties, pro-Ukrainian partisan group Atesh reported on Friday.

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The group also reported that the command centre of the comms hub may have been blown up in the strikes.

According to Crimean Wind, it was hit by at least six ATACMS missiles, which struck the antenna and multiple buildings in the facility, where "high-ranking military personnel... were located at the moment," as per the Kyiv Indepdendent.

"Explosions were heard in almost all regions of Crimea. Russian air defences were active in many, but they were not very effective," the channel claimed.

Ukraine's Armed Forces haven't yet commented on or taken responsibility for, the attack.

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Ukraine has received longer range US missiles. (Image: Getty)

Though Ukraine is struggling to hold back the advance of Vladimir Putin's forces along its northern and eastern fronts, the NATO-supplied weapons have allowed Kyiv to challenge Russia's presence in occupied Crimea, and target air-defense systems, jets and warships.

Kyiv's long-range attacks are central to its strategy to degrade Russia's military capacity, whilst rebuilding its own military after two years of fighting.

Crucial Western aid for Kyiv, especially air defence systems to stop Russia’s targeted destruction of the power grid, isn’t arriving quickly enough.

Also, most Western donors won’t let Ukraine use the sophisticated long-range weapons they are providing to strike targets on Russian soil. That allows Moscow to assemble virtually unimpeded its troops for cross-border assaults, as well as deploy missile launchers to bombard Ukraine.

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