Russia will soon deploy its newest howitzers against Ukrainian forces, Reuters reported, citing the head of Russian Rostec state defense conglomerate, Sergei Chemezov, on 27 December.
According to the Russian statement, howitzers of this class are “needed to provide an advantage over Western artillery models in terms of firing range.” Euromaidan Press could not verify the information about its advantage.
Chemezov said that the new Koslitsiya-SV self-propelled artillery units would appear on the battlefield in Ukraine by the end of 2023. Reportedly, single Coalition-SV howitzers had already been deployed to the frontline in Ukraine earlier in December.
The Russian official did not specify how many units of the Koalitsiya-SV Russia has and how many plans to deploy. Before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry promised
to supply the Taman division with 18 Koalitsia-SVs, yet the delivery was not confirmed.
On the morning of 27 December, European Pravda and Ukrainska Pravda, reported, citing Reuters, that these new howitzers were intended to be deployed in the Northern Military District near the borders with Finland and Norway.
However, Reuters lately corrected the story “to clarify that the new howitzers are intended to be deployed in the war in Ukraine and not to the Finnish border.”
Earlier, European Pravda reported that Russia summoned Finland's ambassador over a defense cooperation agreement signed between Finland and the US. Russia stated that they "will not leave without response’ the build-up of NATO's military potential on the border with Russia.”
Finland approved providing the 21st package of military aid to Ukraine worth 106 million euros, the Finnish Ministry of Defens announced on 21 December.
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