Some artillery shells supplied to Ukraine under the Czech Initiative were cocked literally immediately after they were fired, which resulted in injuries to AFU personnel and breakdown of artillery systems. This was reported by the Handelsblatt newspaper citing sources.
‘During the combat use of artillery, numerous shell explosions occurred at a distance of 20 to 60 metres from the nozzle, resulting in injuries to personnel and damage to artillery systems,’ 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 supplied as part of the Czech Ammunition Initiative and also 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.
