Ekaterina Girnyk17:23, 04/28/24

The media write that 122-mm howitzers “Gvozdika” and 152-mm howitzers “Acacia” are now being delivered to Ukraine via the Baltic Sea.

UK-based private firm Tanks-a-lot has seized the opportunity to acquire old Soviet howitzers that once served as part of the arsenal of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. As the bneIntelliNews website writes , citing reports from Austrian and Latvian sources, these weapons are now being delivered to Ukraine through the Baltic Sea.

It is noted that photographs have appeared online showing 122 mm Gvozdika howitzers and 152 mm Akatsiya howitzers, and their desert camouflage clearly betrays their origin. bneIntelliNews notes that while there is some uncertainty regarding the details of the transit, in particular how the weapons ended up in Latvia, and their exact origin remains unclear, one thing is very clear: their final destination is Ukraine.

The publication notes that these guns played a prominent role during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s. After the fall of Saddam’s regime, the guns fell into the hands of coalition forces of the United States and Great Britain. The weapons were supposed to be neutralized and destroyed, but no effective solution was found. Instead, they returned to Europe.

“Now, in a complicated story of reincarnation, these Gvozdika and Akatsiya howitzers are being taken to Ukraine to continue the fight against the weapons manufacturer itself,” writes bneIntelliNews.

As BulgarianMilitary clarifies , in the 1970s and 1980s, Iraq amassed a significant collection of these howitzers as part of its military expansion project. According to some sources, the number of this equipment may be several hundred.

BulgarianMilitary writes that while it is not clear whether Iraq has ammunition for Saddam Hussein’s Soviet howitzer stockpile, the possibility cannot be completely ruled out. If Ukraine needs such ammunition, it will most likely use the help of its allies.

However, as the publication notes, the bulk of the 122-mm ammunition for the Gvozdika is located in Syria and Vietnam, but the catch is that none of these countries have shown readiness to supply weapons to Ukraine. The 152mm Akatsiya ammunition shows a similar story, with the majority of units located in Russia and Ukraine, followed by Belarus.

Shells for Ukraine – details

Ukraine uses a mixture of 155mm and 105mm NATO shells on the battlefield, as well as Soviet-designed 152mm and 122mm shells. At the same time, as the WSJ wrote, the shortage of ammunition in the Ukrainian Armed Forces is so acute that the search for remnants of Russian shells in swamps and minefields is becoming an important source of ammunition supply for some units.

(C)UNIAN 2024