On the Bakhmut front, where some soldiers criticize the Mod63s sent by our country: they are ineffective against the threat of Russian weapons (unlike the Lince armored vehicles and FH-70 guns)
FROM OUR REPORTER
BACHMUT (UKRAINE) – The military on the front lines in these parts hate the good winter weather: For them it means colder than average temperatures and above all clear skies, which help enemy drones to inspect the targets to be hit from above.
Yesterday we touched it with our hands again, arriving in Bakhmut for the third day in a row, this widespread unrest simmering among deaf soldiers swearing at the sun that does not warm and instead the deficiencies of men’s camouflage cloaks , accommodation and vehicles .
At midday, mercury tended to fall below minus eight, having reached minus thirteen the night before.
And indeed, in front of the peasant isbas converted into dormitories, in the bunkers from the basements of the buildings and up to the most exposed trenches, a tangle of soldiers could be heard, wrapped up and busy cutting down trees and piling wood for the camping stoves.
Just to understand: Two weeks ago the sky was gray, low clouds mixed with fog banks, thin rain fell mixed with snow, but the thermometer had always stayed around zero. “Better the humidity, when you can dry yourself in front of the fire, than the hopelessly frozen muscles on patrols and the excellent visibility, which should help the Russian offensive,” the Ukrainian units confided.
The good weather also coincides with the intensification of Russian bombing. “For over a week their shots have been continuous, massive and increasing every day, they are shooting with everything at their disposal,” civilians and soldiers repeat in almost the same words. Yesterday, the two-lane main road leading from Kostyantynivka to Bakhmut was only passable by armored vehicles, at least the checkpoints strongly advised against civilian vehicles. But fear is also growing in the villages on the back roads that the blaze could disrupt traffic.
Ukrainian commandos also accuse Moscow of firing K-51 shells from drones that contained chloropicrin, a Soviet-era chemical warfare agent banned by the Geneva Conventions against Unconventional Weapons. “We’ve heard that, according to American intelligence, the war could escalate into a series of low-intensity skirmishes in the coming months. But even at the Pentagon, they admit that Bakhmut’s theater remains hot. We here on the ground can only say that the clash in our sector has never been so serious. We don’t see any disruption,” said Ruslan, a 36-year-old corporal with the 30th Brigade, made up of convalescents from war injuries, who has just returned to duty.
The most interesting meeting took place in one of the small restaurants in Kostyantynivka, where three artillerymen – Nikolay aged 53, Oleg aged 44 and Ivan aged 27 – said they were “very disappointed” by the 120- mm Mod63 mortars delivered by Italy five months ago.
“They are old, outdated models, we saw that they were made in 1966, plus the optics and targeting systems are from 1947. They are much worse than the WWII Soviet equivalents. Our unit received 6, but ammunition never arrived from Rome. The Italian ones weigh 30 kilos each and according to the manual we should be able to shoot 8 a minute. So we had to be content with the adaptation of American and Polish shells, which, however, weigh 16 kilos and reduce both accuracy and shot length. Today we are barely able to fire 2 shots per minute not going beyond 3 or 4 kilometers, less than half of what was expected. We’re trying to replace them with much more advanced Swedish mortars,” they say, sharing a video of them taken from the front that shows the embarrassing inefficiency of the Mod63.
On other occasions we instead heard praise for the Lince armored vehicles or the Italian 155mm FH-70 guns.
In Kyiv they hope to soon receive the MLRS from Rome, the multiple rocket launchers that would be of great help in this endless long-range artillery duel.
December 4, 2022 (change December 4, 2022 | 22:10)
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