A “fresh trophy” photo of a Ukrainian self-propelled howitzer captured by the Russians, published on the Telegram channel associated with the private military company “Wagner”, showed the location of a large repair base of Ukrainian military equipment near Luhansk, writes Pravda with reference to Radio Free Europe.

Russian howitzer GvozdykPhoto: Yevhen Biyatov / Sputnik / Profimedia

“A fresh trophy. Ukrainian self-propelled howitzer 2С1 “Gvozdika” captured by the United Forces. February 2023,” reads the description of Uholok Sitha’s Telegram channel next to an image of a captured howitzer.

Radio Free Europe journalists studied the post published on February 3, found the original source of this photo and geolocated it. The photo was published by one of the Russian soldiers who fought in Ukraine.

Several other photos posted by a Russian soldier, including one of a captured Gvozdyk howitzer, were taken in an abandoned mine southeast of Luhansk in an urban setting.

Other photos in the soldier’s account show workshops filled with Russian military equipment, as well as the maintenance process.

Radio Free Europe studied satellite images of the mine area and found that the photo of the captured howitzer was taken in the southern part of the mine area.

This place would be about 90 kilometers from the front line.