Within weeks of Russia's Ukraine invasion, military-support shipments from Ukraine’s allies helped bend the trajectory of a war that already seemed to be going badly for Russia. In early 2023, Western countries pledged heavy armor via ReutersGraphics
When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Ukraine’s military fought back with the equipment it had on hand: Soviet-era aircraft, tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery, and a scattering of Western-supplied weapons such as Javelin anti-tank missiles.
“HIMARS was not really a capability Ukraine had before,” said Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. “Russia wasn’t able to adjust. It obviously had a big impact in that first month.” The vehicles, known as M142 and M270 in the U.S., are wheeled and tracked vehicles, respectively, that can move much faster than conventional artillery and can launch all of their missiles in a matter of minutes after arriving at a firing point.
All of the systems use 155mm shells, which is the NATO standard. The most prominent: M109, AS90, CAESAR, PzH2000, Krab, Zuzana 24 and Archer.Add a description of the graphic for screen readers. This is invisible on the page. The most numerous Western systems donated to Ukraine are the M777 and M119 . The M777 is a 155mm gun that can fire GPS-guided shells and has a range of up to 40 km , depending on what type of ammunition is used.
Some are tracked and some use wheels; more advanced types such as the Marder, Bulldog, Bradley and Stryker also include useful sensors and aiming equipment such as thermal optics.Add a description of the graphic for screen readers. This is invisible on the page. But in January, Britain pledged to send 14 Challenger 2 tanks--current-generation systems that the British military fields in its army. The Challenger 2 uses a diesel engine, making it familiar for Ukraine’s forces to maintain, is about 50% heavier than a T-72 and is much more heavily armoured. It can reach speeds of about 60 kph on roads.
"Tanks play an important role in combined arms warfare by giving forces manoeuvrable armoured firepower. Tanks are not obsolete, and Ukraine will need these and even more tanks to break through Russian lines."Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, including power plants and residential buildings, have come under increasing attack from Russian missiles and one-way drones, often launched from outside Ukraine's territory.
“The fact that the Russians were never able to suppress Ukrainian air defences was another thing that surprised analysts early in the war,” Panda said. “The Russians got very little juice for their squeeze in terms of their ability to change the battlefield with missiles. So eventually we began to see more indiscriminate use.”In 2022, Ukraine used its indigenously made Neptune anti-ship missiles to sink Russia's Black Sea flagship, the cruiser Moskva.
“If it hadn’t been for artillery ammunition, they would have been in a lot of trouble,” Lee said. “Precision-guided munitions mean you have to fire fewer rounds. The ability to destroy targets on a first strike is a really important advantage.”
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