Dramatic video shows the moment Ukrainian troops hit a training ground used by Russian forces with US-supplied cluster bombs, military bloggers claim.
Drone footage posted by various channels on social media is said to show the impact of the explosion in Zaporizhzhia, a southeastern region of Ukraine partially occupied by Vladimir Putin’s invading army, Newsweek reported.
The undated aerial footage appears to capture military equipment and personnel moving in an open field before simultaneous explosions, with large clouds of dust rising above the site.
Ukrainian Telegram channel Division Tivaz was among those who shared the footage, writing: “Destruction of enemy personnel by hitting the training ground with ATACMS clusters.”
ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) is capable of striking targets 180 miles away, although the US has rejected calls to allow Kyiv to hit targets deep in Russian territory.
However, Washington allowed Ukraine to use American-supplied weapons in more limited cross-border attacks to counter attacks by Russian forces.
War blogger War Translated also posted and commented on the clip, on
“Fortunately, the increase in such attacks is hampered by the lack of missile supplies from Western countries, as well as the ongoing ban on carrying out attacks deep inside Russian territory,” added Military Informer, as reported by Newsweek.
Rob Lee, a military analyst and senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, described the footage as showing “a Ukrainian ATACMS cluster munition attack on Russian soldiers at a training ground.”
However, Special Kherson Cat, a pro-Ukrainian X account, stated that Volodymr Zelensky’s forces may have used other US-supplied weapons in the attack.
“Some (or actually many) Ukrainian Telegram channels have a strong desire to call every HIMARS cluster munition attack an ATACMS attack, and forget that M30 cluster missiles even exist,” the post said.
According to the BBC, US President Joe Biden quietly gave the green light for Ukraine to be supplied with ATACMS in February. In October Zelensky announced that the rule had been used for the first time against Russia.
The latest video has not been independently verified, and Russia has not commented. The Kremlin is closely watching Ukraine’s efforts to gain permission to use US-supplied long-range missiles to strike targets in Russia, which the Biden administration has so far been reluctant to sanction.
Putin, who launched an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, said if the invasion were approved, he would view it as the “direct participation” of NATO countries in the war.
