Grenades got stuck directly in their mortars or after a few seconds landed a few tens of meters from the mortar. In Ukraine, they are investigating how malfunctioning ammunition could have reached the defenders at the front.
Ukrainian soldiers themselves began to draw attention to the problem with Ukrainian-made 120-millimeter mortar shells through the media. The website was the first to draw attention to the malfunctioning ammunition at the beginning of November.
Now she brought an interview with one of the soldiers, who showed the editor how, for example, they dry gunpowder on the stoves, since the powder reaches them at the front, which has become wet due to poor quality packaging.
The soldiers also showed journalists non-functioning capsules, which under normal circumstances should fire a grenade from a mortar. Instead of flying out, it either got stuck directly in the barrel of the mortar or landed near the position from where the soldiers were trying to fire it.
The fire starts and suddenly – nothing happens
A well-known critic of the government, journalist Yuri Butusov called the delivery of non-functioning grenades criminal negligence. He recalled that low-quality ammunition can have an impact on the situation at the front.
“Risking their lives, mortarmen go to positions that check enemy drones to open fire. The infantry in the positions will require this fire so that the mortars can destroy the Russian attacking soldiers. The mortarmen tell them to go for it, fire starts and suddenly – nothing happens. Fire support nowhere. So our soldiers have to enter contact combat. People are dying because low-quality, non-functioning mines are delivered to the front, for which someone took responsibility and someone took the money for their production,” he commented in his video blog.
According to TSN, problems with malfunctioning mortar shells occurred in several sections of the front from the Russian Kursk region to Kurachovo in the Donetsk region.
The problem is said to be caused by a drop in temperature
The member of the Holos faction, Serhij Rachmanin, who is a member of the parliamentary Committee for National Security and Defense, said in an interview that the deliveries of grenades are assessed by an interdepartmental commission and added that it is not necessarily an error on the production side.
“For example, dust is a very sensitive thing, it can get wet even with minimal temperature fluctuations. Then it cannot be used. Let’s be honest, some soldiers don’t know to store it under certain conditions. Some commanders don’t even talk about it,” he said.
According to the Interdepartmental Commission for Investigation, the main causes of grenade accidents were identified as precisely this – a drop in temperature and increased humidity.
“In the conditions of dry weather, the grenades did not show any problems,” Suspiľne quotes Fedir Venislavský, a member of the government party Servant of the People from the National Security Committee.
Soldiers began to openly complain about problems with mortar ammunition in early November.
Minus a hundred thousand grenades
Web Suspiľne claims that, according to its source, the cases of defective grenades concern only one batch. It has already been ordered to be withdrawn from circulation by the Ministry of Defense. According to Venislavský, the manufacturer has committed to supply new ammunition for the army.
“I cannot talk about the quantities, as it is confidential information,” the deputy added, adding that the law enforcement authorities should assess whether the deliveries were in violation of the law.
Jurij Nikolov, an investigative journalist of the Naši hippos project (in translation Our money, editor’s note) wrote for the website that they should have withdrawn at least one hundred thousand grenades, which would be enough for six months of combat in economic use. “Only after an inspection in all units will the extent of the fiasco become clear,” he wrote.
Tetiana Nikolajenko’s withdrawal of one hundred thousand mines would mean a loss of at least 50 million euros for the state, as prices on the European market ranged from 530 to 570 euros per mortar shell during the year.
According to Nikolov, the withdrawn grenades should be replaced by imports, but it may take some time before they reach the front.
The investigator pointed out that the risks were known
From Nikol’s material it appears that this is a more complex problem than just blaming the weather and poor gunpowder storage.
The journalist explains in his material that last winter, during the meetings of representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Strategic Industries, it was decided that the state should urgently conclude contracts for the supply of ammunition, primarily with domestic manufacturers.
We remind you that last year Ukraine began to be troubled by the so-called munitions famine after Europe was unable to supply munitions as promised and American supplies were delayed by political infighting between Republicans and Democrats. This is also why it was emphasized in Ukraine that they will have to rely more on their own production capacities.
According to Nikolov, at a meeting of strategic ministries, it was decided that contracts for various types of ammunition will be drawn up, including the supply of hundreds of thousands of 120-millimeter mortar shells.
However, according to Nikolov, the Main Directorate of Technical Evaluation at the Ministry of Defense warned of possible risks associated with the training of qualified personnel or the supply of components. It was, for example, the absence of serial production of the M-12 detonator, which is responsible for detonating the ammunition. Nikolov also drew attention to the possible lack of more systematic quality control of ammunition.
According to the journalist, all this could eventually become a stumbling block.
They only started investigating when the video was published
“The first shells of 120 mm caliber went to the front in June. There really weren’t any big problems with them back then. Then there was a break for a few months, and in September the plant resumed deliveries. That’s when the problems started,” wrote Nikolov.
According to him, from September 18 to November 10, the soldiers noticed, for example, that mines fell at a distance of ten to 150 meters from the mortar or fell one hundred to six meters from the target where the soldiers were aiming.
According to Nikolov, there were also cases when the ammunition did not fly out of the mortar at all or the grenade did not explode at the target.
“Military authorities did not react until November 6, when journalist Yuri Butusov published a video of a batch of grenades, from which only one (grenade) was fired for every ten shots,” he said.
The Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday that it has been actively investigating problems with malfunctioning mortar shells for three weeks.
