A video released by Ukrainian forces showing a drone attack on Russian positions and trenches has sparked debate among observers about the type of munitions used in the attack.

The video in question shows at the beginning a strong impact, most likely a HIMARS impact, somewhere in the area of ​​Bakhmut. Immediately after, you can see how the excavated area is practically sprinkled with small explosions that cover a larger area.

Many observers speculate that Ukraine will use a cluster bomb, most likely a 120 mm mortar shell, but it is unclear what type.

Additionally, others have suggested that based on the images, the round used was actually conventional but dual-purpose (Advanced Conventional Dual-purpose Munition – DPICM). Such an artillery barrage or surface-to-surface missile is designed to explode/detach in mid-air so that the submunitions are released at the optimum height and distance from the target to accurately cover a larger area. Submunitions will also be explosive, both anti-armor and fragmentation, anti-personnel.

The Twitter account Ukraine Weapons Tracker, noted during the war for correctly centralizing the many types of weapons used in the conflict, claims that the munitions used were M971 cluster mortar bombs, a type of strike made in Israel and nicknamed the “cargo bomb” because carries 24 DPICM submunitions.

According to OSINTtechincal, the attack may have used Spanish-made ESPIN-21 and MAT-120 bombs, as well as both 120 mm mortars with 21 submunitions.

Weapons of mysterious origin used by the Ukrainian army

It is not the first time that information and hints about new types of weapons or ammunition of unknown origin appear on videos from the front.

In November, the Ukrainian military showed a machine gun that they should not have. The W85 machine gun with 12.7×108 mm cartridges is a weapon of Chinese manufacture, but of unknown origin.

In the summer, images of another type of 120-mm mortar appeared, which many mistakenly believed to be American. In fact, these mortars were Iranian copies of the Israeli Soltam K6 model, which the Iranians called the HM-16.

Also, in the summer, Ukrainians were surprised for the first time with a new model of an electromagnetic anti-drone gun.

Several images released in early June showed a mysterious tank captured by the Russian military. The Soviet-made T-72M1 tank was repaired in 1993 by the Bulgarian arms company “Apolo”, the photos of its interior show the low mileage of the military vehicle.

“Bulgaria has not announced any deliveries of tanks, so their source is rather mysterious,” Ukraine Weapons Tracker noted at the time.

The video, which was widely circulated on social networks at the end of May, also shows how the Ukrainians began using the Italian FH70 howitzers promised by Rome. But the projectiles seen in the video are 155 tkr88, a Finnish-made munition with a range of 24 kilometers.

These details may indicate that the Scandinavian country sent an undisclosed package of military aid to Kyiv.

“Left hook” in Zaporizhzhia: is the Ukrainian army preparing for a new counteroffensive in the south of the country?

Western military analysts are increasingly talking about the possibility of liberating the city of Melitopol in southeastern Ukraine, which will be, metaphorically speaking, a real “left hook” applied to Russian troops in southern Ukraine.

Journalists of The New York Times recently also talked about the prospect of such an offensive after Ukrainian troops intensified attacks around the city and some objects in it.

Melitopol, a city with a population of nearly 150,000 before the start of the war, was one of the first Ukrainian cities to be occupied by the Russian army, which announced that its troops had entered the city since February 27.

It became part of the so-called “land bridge” across the Sea of ​​Azov, which connects Crimea with the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russian troops in the south of the country. Melitopol is located at the intersection of two key highways and an important railway connecting Russia with the peninsula.

If the armed forces of Kyiv manage to liberate Melitopol and regain control over the city’s most important transport hubs, the supply of Russian troops in the south of Ukraine will be dramatically complicated.

SEE ALSO:

• VIDEO. Ukrainians shoot from KHIMARS wherever they can: Launches from the middle of the road, between cars

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