The story about the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has to begin with the traditional thesis about the general low level of training of personnel and the unsatisfactory condition of the guns. From the very beginning of the notorious ATO, artillery reservists, who in many ways were poorly versed in this type of troops, were called up to the troops. There were even facts of non-combat losses among personnel before the outbreak of hostilities. So, in March 2014 at Perekop due to negligence, the ammunition load of the Msta-S self-propelled gun exploded, and in May of the same year, another self-propelled gun was lost in the same way.
"Baptism of fire" on a large scale, so to speak, the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine received in the battles near Slavyansk. Both cannon and rocket artillery worked for the militia and civilians, which, in fact, proves the indiscriminateness of the Ukrainian army in striking. The most distinguished were the artillery divisions of the 55th artillery brigade named after Colonel-General Vasily Petrov, which was later given the name "Zaporizhzhya Sich". The brigade consisted of five divisions: 3 howitzer (2A65 Msta-B), anti-tank (MT-12 Rapier with ATGMs) and reconnaissance. Separately, it is worth mentioning that the Ukrainian military command never used the Vasily Petrov artillery brigade in full force - most often, divisional-scale units were involved in the shelling.
The Donbass militia's response to the massive artillery shelling already in July 2014 was a methodical and verified counter-battery fight. The mentioned 55th brigade near Krasny Liman came under such return fire and lost 6 Msta-B howitzers in one raid.
As you know, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the needs of the "anti-terrorist operation" did not hesitate to send into battle heavy vehicles of the MLRS 9K58 "Smerch" type from the 15th (base in Drohobych in the Lviv region) and 107th Kremenchug rocket artillery regiments. The last regiment was actively used in the areas of Kramatorsk, Artemyevsk and Debaltseve, often firing at the militia with openly "stale" missiles - a lot of ammunition remained unexploded from the ground. However, now the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine pays special attention to missile technology. Engineers of defense enterprises are busy testing and adopting guided munitions (obviously, by GPS) for the Smerch under the name Alder. The Ukrainians fired the first Alder shots back in 2016, and Turchynov liked them very much, who said: "… unlike Russian counterparts, Ukrainian missiles are guided, and that is why they hit targets more efficiently and more accurately, which was proven during tests." … Work on such an important project for the Armed Forces of Ukraine is coordinated by the Kiev State Design Bureau "Luch".
Flight of the controlled "Alder"
Some of the first results of statistical calculations showed that by March 2016, for various reasons, 13 Smerch combat vehicles had been disabled. How many of them died for non-combat reasons? Statistics are silent.
The Sumy 27th Rocket Artillery Regiment is, in its own way, a unique unit of the armed forces of Ukraine. In fact, only they had the "intermediate" MLRS 9K57 "Hurricane" of 220 mm caliber. The regiment has a very textured and formidable name - "Sumy Boars", which, however, did not protect them from very serious troubles.
Testimony of volunteer Pavel Narozhny, who was involved in the 27th ReAP maneuvers:
“On March 1 (2014) the regiment in full force was withdrawn to Mirogorod, because there are only 34 kilometers from Sumy to the border with Russia. There is a video of how they were driving … in the literal sense of the word, the equipment on the road crumbled. In early June, we hired several specialists at the Frunze machine-building plant, who, taking leave, went to repair military equipment. We worked all June so that the batteries could easily leave for combat positions. Moreover, our mechanics were able to make a unique thing. In "Hurricanes" a platform is used, which is not found on any other rocket launcher - ZIL-135 LM. If even the slightest malfunction of the engines, the car simply starts to throw them from side to side. There is a special Russian-made electronic unit that synchronizes the operation of these engines. We do not have such units in our warehouses, but Russia, of course, does not supply them anymore. These blocks are non-separable - they are soldered, and our electronics engineer Vladimir Sumtsov was able to cut it and find the element base. So, he is now repairing these units … at home."
It remains to be hoped that the level of military-technical service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has remained at the same level now. Narozhny further complains:
“The main problem: the platform for the transportation of artillery installations is the ZIL-135LM. There are two engines with a total capacity of 250 horsepower. They eat 150 liters per 100 km. A modern engine for 150 liters can make 1000 horses. Moreover, this technique is hopelessly outdated."
Throwing "Hurricanes" 27 ReAP batteries practically along the entire front, plugging them in hot directions. Valery Ismailov, the regiment commander, said: “Geographically, the units of our regiment are located along the entire line of contact and operate in all directions: Mariupol, Debaltsev, Donetsk, Luhansk. Almost all divisions of the regiment are working, including now, in the hottest directions that everyone knows. " The militia often suffered sensitive losses from such powerful artillery, which, among other things, was quite mobile.
For this reason, it was the units of the 27th ReAP that became the priority targets for the artillery of the defenders of Donbass. The story of a soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Sergei Romanenko about the horrors he experienced is very remarkable:
“For three days, enemy drones were constantly circling above us. The anti-aircraft gunners fired a lot of ammunition at them from the Tunguska, but to no avail. On September 3, we were ready all day, since 72 hours for an ultimatum on the unconditional surrender of positions and equipment had already passed. And then at 19:20 it began. We immediately realized that it was not Grads or Hurricanes that were shooting at us. Within a few seconds, most of the personnel were already in the dugouts. The soldiers who were in the hangar with the equipment died immediately: the missile hit right into the center. Somewhere near the dugout, where, besides me, there were 11 other servicemen, a rocket exploded. Something clicked in my head - I went blind and lost my hearing. After a while, the vision returned. Then I realized that I was covered with sandstone up to my shoulders. Probably, what saved me was that I was not lying, but half-sitting. Slowly he began to dig himself out. Everything around me burned and exploded. Apparently, after the shelling, our Hurricane rockets and self-propelled guns, which were nearby, detonated. Explosions were interspersed with human screams. The first I dug up Major Pavel Pogorelov. He was conscious and called me himself. The sapper shovel was not at hand, so I had to work with my hands. He said he was suffocating. But nothing happened. Having freed the body to the knees, I realized that the officer would live. Armed with a flashlight (it was already dark), I started looking for other servicemen."
We worked on the units of the Ukrainian army BM-30 "Smerch". The militia ultimatum was not accepted …
