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New footage shows Western-supplied M777 howitzers in Ukrainian hands being used against Russian forces in the contested eastern Donetsk region, according to Kyiv's military.
Ukraine's 45th Separate Artillery Brigade "destroyed the enemy" using an M777 close to the village of Klishchiivka, around 8 kilometers, or 5 miles, from the ruined city of Bakhmut, the commander of Ukraine's ground forces said on Saturday. The video shared by Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi—which appears to be drone footage—captures several explosions on and around what look to be Russian military vehicles.
Newsweek could not independently verify the location or timing of the footage and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.
M777 howitzers are part of extensive artillery supplies Ukraine's Western backers have sent to Kyiv to sustain its war effort against Russian troops in the east and south of the country. Several nations, including the U.S., Canada and Australia, have sent M777 howitzers and ammunition for the artillery pieces to Ukraine.
The towed M777 is one of the 155mm artillery pieces delivered to Ukraine's armed forces and was originally developed for the U.S. military. The U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in June 2022 that at that point in the war, the M777s in Ukraine had "been absolutely lethal" against Moscow's troops. It has a range of just under 25 kilometers, or around 15 miles, according to manufacturer BAE Systems.
"Artillery has been hugely important in this war," Davis Ellison, a strategic analyst with the Hague Center for Security Studies, told Newsweek earlier this month.
As Kyiv has pushed on with its counteroffensive, now in its third month, artillery such as the M777 howitzer, and supplies of ammunition for it, have become more important.
Ukrainian troops carried out counteroffensive operations on at least two sectors of the front line on Saturday and are thought to have made "tactically significant advances" along the border between Ukraine's annexed Zaporzhzhia and Donetsk regions, according to the U.S. think tank, the Institute for the Study of War.
On Sunday, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said Russia had attempted "unsuccessful offensive actions" around the Donetsk village of Klishchiivka, with more than a dozen settlements around the city of Bakhmut coming under Russian artillery shelling.
Bakhmut has been a constant target for Ukrainian and Russian operations for more than a year, destroying the city and racking up high casualty counts on both sides.
Russia's southern grouping of forces "successfully repelled seven attacks" from Ukrainian assault groups around Klishchiivka and several other settlements in the Donetsk region, Moscow's Defense Ministry said on Saturday.
Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister, Hanna Maliar, said on Thursday that Russian troops were attempting to restore their "lost positions on the outskirts of Klishchiivka."
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more