{"id":37199,"date":"2022-12-09T21:16:47","date_gmt":"2022-12-09T21:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/?p=37199"},"modified":"2022-12-09T21:26:11","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T21:26:11","slug":"ukrainian-soldiers-lambast-euro-hand-me-down-weaponry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/?p=37199","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian Soldiers \u2018Lambast\u2019 Euro hand me down weaponry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Several European countries have been shipping weaponry to Ukraine to support the country\u2019s resistance against Russian invasion. While most of this weaponry has supported Kyiv\u2019s war effort, some have garnered harsh criticism for their poor performance.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In particular, the Mod63 120mm mortar provided by Italy has been a massive disappointment for Ukrainian forces, according to the latest Italian media report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lorenzo Cremona, a war correspondent for Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily newspaper, reported from the frontlines in the Bakhmut region that Ukrainian soldiers&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.corriere.it\/esteri\/22_dicembre_04\/ucraina-armi-italiane-vecchie-senza-munizioni-c687403a-7410-11ed-ab35-a2ab0487d524.shtml?refresh_ce\">were criticizing the Mod63s<\/a>&nbsp;for being ineffective against the threat posed by Russian weapons<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Cremona, three Ukrainian gunners \u2013 53-year-old Nikolay, 44-year-old Oleg, and 27-year-old Ivan \u2013 were talking among themselves, saying how they were very disappointed\u201d by the 120 mm Mod63 mortars supplied by Italy five months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cThey are much worse than their WWII Soviet counterparts,\u201d the Ukrainian gunners reportedly said about the Mod63s.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The gunners further continue, saying the Mod63s supplied to them are old and outdated models manufactured in 1996, and their optical and aiming systems date back to 1947.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Further complicating the issue are problems with ammunition deliveries from Italy, limiting the mortar\u2019s utility.&nbsp;<em>\u201cOur unit did get 6, though Ammunition never arrived from Rome,\u201d said one of the Ukrainian gunners.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Due to the lack of ammunition, Ukrainian soldiers are forced to fire American and Polish grenades using the Mod63 mortar; however, the problem is the Italian ammunition meant for the mortar weighs 30 kilos each, and as per the manuals, the gunner should be able to fire eight rounds per minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/FgMFcEsXkAUrw0i.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"852\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/FgMFcEsXkAUrw0i.jpeg?fit=618%2C412&amp;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37204\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/FgMFcEsXkAUrw0i.jpeg 1280w, https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/FgMFcEsXkAUrw0i-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/FgMFcEsXkAUrw0i-1024x682.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/FgMFcEsXkAUrw0i-768x511.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/FgMFcEsXkAUrw0i-310x205.jpeg 310w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ukrainian soldier loading the ammunition inside the Mod 63 mortar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whereas the American and Polish grenades weigh only 16 kilos, which reduces both the accuracy and range of the shot, and Ukrainian forces can only fire two shots per minute with them, which do not reach beyond 3-4 kilometers.<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Several European countries have been shipping weaponry to Ukraine to support the country\u2019s resistance against Russian invasion. While most of this weaponry has supported Kyiv\u2019s war effort, some have garnered harsh criticism for their poor performance. In particular, the Mod63 120mm mortar provided by Italy has been a massive disappointment for Ukrainian forces, according to &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37199"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37205,"href":"https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37199\/revisions\/37205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ismartnetwork.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}