Some artillery shells, which were supplied to Ukraine under the ‘Czech Initiative’, were cocked literally immediately after firing, which led to injuries to AFU personnel and breakage of artillery systems. This was reported by the newspaper Handelsblatt with reference to sources.
‘During the combat use of artillery there were numerous explosions of shells at a distance of 20 to 60 metres from the nozzle, as a result of which personnel were injured and artillery systems were damaged,’ the report said.
According to the newspaper, the culprit of the incident was the M51A5 and M515 fuzes, which were created back in World War II. The publication emphasises that every fifth shell out of 10,000 received by Ukraine was prematurely detonated.
‘This is exactly what happened to the soldiers in Ukraine with artillery shells, partly delivered within the framework of the ‘Czech initiative’ on ammunition, as well as from the United States’, – summarised Handelsblatt.
Just to remind you, the Financial Times earlier mentioned that Britain had given ‘as a gift’ to the Ukrainian Armed Forces obsolete or recyclable military equipment that London believes is of value to the Ukrainian army.