How artillery sent by Canada and allies is helping — and not — on Ukraine’s front lines
Global News
Global News spent an afternoon in southern Kharkiv with the Ukrainian military, observing how the M777 howitzer long-range guns are helping their fight to repel Russia.
Deep within a thicket of trees near Ukraine’s eastern front lines, a group of soldiers hurriedly dismantle a pile of branches to reveal a long barrel underneath, aimed straight at the Russian border.
The men rush around the back of the M777 howitzer, loading its chamber with an artillery round and then standing back, fingers in their ears and mouths agape to protect their eardrums, as a deafening explosion rings out across the countryside.
They do this between 100 and 130 times per day, between the three M777s in this position, in a hidden location in the southern Kharkiv region.
This week, Global News was escorted to the secret M777 location near the front lines in Kharkiv to observe the long-range artillery in operation. Canada sent a number of M777s to Ukraine in April, as part of a $130-million support package, and has since sent millions more in replacement barrels and ammunitions, among other lethal aid.
Long-range artillery has become crucial in attempts to turn the tide of the war, allowing Ukrainians to target Russian troops and locations from farther away, in turn preventing further strikes on Ukrainian forces.
“Artillery is saving the blood of the infantry. We need them to save troops,” Andriy, the battalion’s deputy commander and an artillerist, tells us.
Canada, the United States and Australia have donated the M777s being used by Ukrainian soldiers in Kharkiv. These 155-millimetre towed howitzers have a range of up to 30 kilometres.
But to really make an impact, several soldiers say, they need more long-range artillery. While they’re grateful for the weapons being donated by the international community, the much-lauded American-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, also known as HIMARS, is the golden goose.
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