Direct proof of use
The 96L6-TsP is documented in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War through Russian air-defense deployments around bases and positions tied to the full-scale invasion. In August 2022, The War Zone identified a 96L6-TsP acquisition radar among S-350 components visible in Russian Ministry of Defence footage from Taganrog Air Base in Rostov Oblast, a Russian forward airbase used during operations against Ukraine.
A later documented battlefield loss placed the same radar type inside occupied Ukraine. Conflict Intelligence Team reported that a May 22, 2024 Ukrainian ATACMS strike near Mospyne airfield in Donetsk region destroyed a 96L6-TsP air-surveillance radar associated with an S-350 surface-to-air missile system and compatible with S-400 batteries, along with command and launcher equipment.
Sources: The War Zone Taganrog S-350 Report, CIT May 22-24 2024 Sitrep
Timeline
The first public conflict-use milestone found for this record is the August 2022 Taganrog appearance, where the radar was identified in a Russian air-defense deployment at a base near Ukraine. The next directly sourced milestone is the May 2024 Mospyne strike, which moved the record from rear-area deployment evidence to a visually reported battlefield-loss case in Donetsk region.
Both incidents connect the 96L6-TsP to Russian layered air defense rather than to an independent weapon effect. The radar's recorded role in the conflict is acquisition, air surveillance, and target-support for connected surface-to-air missile systems.
Sources: The War Zone Taganrog S-350 Report, CIT May 22-24 2024 Sitrep, GlobalSecurity 96L6 Radar
Narrative
The 96L6-TsP appears in the war as a sensor component in Russian ground-based air-defense networks. The Taganrog case showed it with S-350 Vityaz equipment protecting or supporting a forward airbase close to Ukraine, where Russian aircraft activity was tied to the war. The War Zone's account also noted that the radar and launcher positions were not visible in February 2022 imagery and that later satellite evidence showed new activity around the deployment area.
The Mospyne case shows a more forward placement inside Donetsk region. CIT attributed the strike report to footage from the Dos'ye Shpiona channel and described the target set as a Russian air-defense position with a mobile command post, 96L6-TsP radar, launchers, and damage to another launcher. That record supports fielding by Russian forces in the conflict but does not, by itself, establish which aircraft, missiles, or drones the radar tracked before it was hit.
General 96L6-family descriptions explain why the system is cataloged as an acquisition and surveillance radar. GlobalSecurity describes the 96L6 family as a three-coordinate radar family associated with S-300 and S-400 air-defense systems, with automatic target tracking, target classification, and data output to air-defense users. In this conflict record, those background functions are used only to describe the radar's role inside the documented Russian deployments.
Sources: The War Zone Taganrog S-350 Report, CIT May 22-24 2024 Sitrep, GlobalSecurity 96L6 Radar
