Ukrainian forces successfully targeted and destroyed a reinforced Russian bunker in the occupied Kherson region using a US-supplied M712 Copperhead guided artillery shell, according to footage published by Ukrainian serviceman Stanislav Bunyatov on January 29.
The WarArchive project identified the target as a Russian fortification in Hola Prystan, a town in the temporarily occupied Kherson region.
Video evidence suggests the bunker was completely destroyed in the precision strike.
Developed by the United States in the 1970s, the M712 Copperhead is a laser-guided 155mm artillery shell designed for high-precision strikes against fortified positions and armored vehicles.
It carries either a high-explosive fragmentation or shaped-charge warhead and can be fired from standard 155mm howitzers with a range of 3 to 16 kilometers.
Weighing 62.4 kilograms, the Copperhead is a powerful but seldom-used piece of artillery.
According to United24 Media, the US ceased production decades ago, and as of 1995, an estimated 20,000 shells remained in military reserves. In 2017, a small batch was sent to Lebanon to assist in combatting ISIS forces.
The Copperhead was first used by the US military during the 1991 Gulf War, but its use has become rare in modern conflicts. Ukrainian forces have previously used M712 Copperhead shells in operations in Russia’s Kursk region.
