In the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian artillerymen are relentlessly pursuing the Russians, who were forced to retreat in the conditions of the continuous advance of Kyiv troops in recent days, reports AFP.

During the six months of Russian occupation of large areas of Ukrainian territory in the east of the country, heavy artillery dominated the fighting, often in favor of the Russians.

But the counteroffensive launched by the Ukrainians at the beginning of September changed the situation.

The Ukrainian army decided to introduce tanks and infantry in the hope of breaking through the front line, which was defended by the Russians.

The results are convincing: Kyiv troops made significant territorial gains within weeks of isolating the Russians, who were forced to retreat hastily and often disorganized.

The role of artillery remains vital

Despite this attack strategy, the role of artillery still remains predominant for the Ukrainian army.

The 14th Mechanized Brigade is one of the units tasked with salvo fire on Russian troops.

In Moscow, supporters of President Vladimir Putin condemned the presence of foreign “mercenaries” fighting alongside Ukrainians against the Russian army with the support of an important arsenal provided by NATO.

But on Tuesday, this artillery unit, which operated in the Kharkiv region, was not a team with ultra-modern weapons… On the contrary. They have at their disposal a simple rocket salvo system “BM-21 Grad” model of 1963.

Geolocation

For Dmitry, the young commander of this small team of six, the age of the device does not prevent it from being very useful and targeting Russian lines on the other side of the front.

“This Grad system is good enough for our missions. I like using it,” the 22-year-old told AFP.

Before a shot is fired, his team receives the targets’ geolocation over the radio, and the driver pulls the car out of hiding to position it on the field.

With the help of his small tablet, Dmitry carefully calculates the trajectory necessary to reach the target before notifying his colleagues, who enter the coordinates into the system.

“Bang, bang, bang, bang…”: 122 mm projectiles are launched into the air. A short pause, then another explosion in the sky.

From the field where the team was shooting, it is impossible to determine whether the target was hit. But Dmytro is confident.

“I’m sure we hit them. They had missions, but now they won’t be able to carry them out,” he said.

• PHOTO. Ukrainians brought to the front weapons that were considered only in museums

Museum exhibits and “dinosaurs” that were used during the war in Ukraine

The Ukrainian military took to the battlefield “ancient” artillery, which is known only in the museum, and not in the military warehouses of Ukraine.

Administrators of the Ukraine Weapons Tracker page note that the “ancient but powerful” 240 mm M-240 mortar was seen in action for the first time.

Mortar M-240 caliber 240 millimeters Photo: Twitter – Ukraine Weapons Tracker

“It is interesting that the M-240 model was not known in Ukrainian warehouses, but a mortar of this type was exhibited in a museum in Kyiv,” they note.

This is not the first very old weapon that has been spotted in the arms of the Ukrainian military since the beginning of the “special operation” on February 24. Perhaps the most famous of them is the Maxim M1910 machine gun, created more than 100 years ago, when Ukraine was still part of the tsarist empire.

The machine gun was introduced on the battlefields in 1910, being the Russian version of the first truly automatic machine gun, patented in 1883 by the American-British inventor Hiram Maxim.

A video posted on social media in May shows Ukrainian territorial troops training with the kind of machine gun used by the Russian Imperial Army during World War I and the Red Army during the Russian Civil War.

Another video, also shared on social networks in May, showed that the Russians, in turn, retrieved from the mothballs a weapon with a long history – obsolete Soviet T-62 tanks.

Military analyst Chris Owen explained at the time that this “dinosaur” is inferior in all respects to more modern Russian/Soviet tanks, its production has been discontinued since 1975.

Several photos shared by the Ukrainian military in mid-September showed that they managed to capture such a tank, most likely during the Kharkiv Offensive, which led to the collapse of the Russian front in this region in the northeast of their country.

The tank turned out to be in decent condition, considering its age (entered service with the Soviet Army in 1961) and the fact that it had been in combat.