Ukrainian FPV drone destroys Russia’s state-of-the-art Malva self-propelled gun (video)

On 10 May, Militarnyi reported that the Ukrainian Army’s 413th separate UAV battalion “Raid” successfully destroyed Russia’s advanced 2S43 Malva self-propelled howitzer, using an FPV drone. The Malva has been in service with the Russian army since 2023.

The combat footage, shared on 9 May, shows that the Malva was hidden in a tree line, but vehicle tracks on the ground revealed its position. In response, Ukrainian forces deployed strike FPV drones to target the Russian artillery at the concealed location.

One of the drones identified the Malva, approached it from the rear, and struck the compartment where ammunition was stored. The impact caused a detonation of the onboard munitions, resulting in the complete destruction of the system.

No location was mentioned in the report, but several monitoring channels claim the attack took place in Russia’s Belgorod or nearby Kursk Oblast.

The Malva artillery system

The 2S43 Malva is a wheeled self-propelled artillery system developed by Russia. Instead of the standard 152-mm 2A64 howitzer, the Malva incorporates the long-range 2A36 Giatsint-B gun to compensate for range limitations.

Using conventional high-explosive fragmentation shells, the Malva has a firing range of up to 30.5 km, and up to 33.1 km with rocket-assisted projectiles.

The system is built on a BAZ-6910-011 (BAZ-6910) wheeled chassis produced by the Bryansk Automobile Plant — a facility previously targeted by Ukrainian drones. 

Over the past year, Russia has significantly increased production of the Malva artillery systems as part of its defense industry buildup.