Ukrainian service members firing a M777 howitzer on an unspecified front in the Donbass region. Source: the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
The Russian military had destroyed hangars housing US-supplied M777 155 mm howitzers near the settlement of Kostantinovka in the Donetsk, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on July 10.
“Over the past day tactical aviation, the rocket and artillery forces struck 17 Ukrainian command posts, four platoons of Grad MLRS and, in the area of Konstantinovka, two hangars concealing US-made M777 howitzers that were used to shell Donetsk residential districts,” Russian MoD Spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said in his daily briefing. “Also struck were artillery positions in 42 areas as well as Ukrainian troops and equipment in 143 areas”.
The M777 towed howitzer has a maximum rate of fire of seven rounds per minute with a range of up to 40 kilometers when firing Excalibur precision-guided rounds. The US, Canada and Australia have supplied Kiev forces with more than 100 howitzers of this type since April.
So far, Ukraine has been supplied with hundreds of thousands of 155 mm artillery rounds. This number includes more than a thousand Excalibur rounds.
The Russian military has already destroyed many of Ukraine’s new-acquired M777 howitzers. Just a day earlier, a missile strike destroyed a hangar near the settlement of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk where several howitzers of this type were stored.
Despite Western efforts to boost the first power of Kiev forces, the artillery of the Russian military and its allies is still dominating the battlefield.
Western military support to Ukraine will not likely end time soon as it is only meant to prolong the war on the hope of thwarting Russia’s special military operation in the country.
