Direct proof of use
The MT-LB/S-60 conversion is directly tied to Russian-side use in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War through May 2023 public reporting and visual-loss documentation. Defense Express reported on 6 May 2023 that Russian forces had installed an S-60 anti-aircraft gun on an MT-LB armored vehicle, identifying the vehicle as another improvised Russian combat conversion during the full-scale invasion.
Oryx's tracker of Russian equipment types observed in Ukraine separately lists an MT-LB with a 57 mm AZP S-60 anti-aircraft gun and marks the first visually documented destroyed example in May 2023. Together, those sources support fielding of the exact MT-LB-mounted S-60 configuration and at least one destroyed Russian example in the war.
Sources: Defense Express MT-LB S-60, Oryx Russian Army Equipment Not Yet Destroyed
Dated appearances
The first dated open-source milestone in this record is 6 May 2023, when Defense Express covered images of the S-60 mounted on an MT-LB and described the system as an improvised self-propelled artillery or assault-gun adaptation rather than a normal air-defense vehicle.
Oryx's later listing places the first destroyed Russian MT-LB with 57 mm AZP S-60 anti-aircraft gun in May 2023. A Russian Izvestia frontline report published on 21 July 2023 described an S-60 based on an ordinary MT-LB near the Vuhledar direction, attributing combat-use comments to a correspondent and crew members while presenting the vehicle as part of Russian volunteer-detachment operations on the southern Donetsk front.
Sources: Defense Express MT-LB S-60, Oryx Russian Army Equipment Not Yet Destroyed, Izvestia Vuhledar S-60 MT-LB
Russian improvised fire-support role
The documented Russian configuration combined the lightly armored MT-LB carrier with the 57 mm AZP-57 gun of the S-60 system. Defense Express assessed that the installation was mainly being used as an ersatz self-propelled artillery or assault-gun vehicle, noting the S-60's ability to fire to about 6 km and comparing it with other Russian improvised MT-LB weapon mounts.
The Izvestia account described the weapon near Vuhledar as able to engage ground and air targets and said the gun was welded to the hull of a standard armored carrier. That report is useful as attributed Russian media evidence for frontline employment, but its claims about combat effects should be read as source-attributed battlefield reporting rather than independently verified results.
The strongest source-backed conclusion is therefore narrow: Russian forces fielded at least one MT-LB-mounted AZP S-60 conversion during the full-scale invasion, used it as an improvised mobile gun platform, and lost at least one visually documented example by May 2023. The public sources do not establish a production count, formal unit inventory, or consistent tactical effectiveness for the conversion.
Sources: Defense Express MT-LB S-60, Izvestia Vuhledar S-60 MT-LB, Oryx Russian Army Equipment Not Yet Destroyed
