dreadful attack (April 18, 203). In Ukraine, 59 US M777 howitzers are destroyed by Russian kamikaze drones.

Russia Lancet 3 Kamikaze drones destroyed nearly 45 %of tout and self-propelled artillery guns from North Atlantic tree organisation . NATO since the beginning of the war in February 2022 this primarily includes the the USM 777 lightweight toad howitzer Polish 155 millimeter crab and USM 109 Paladin self-propelled guns SPG .

This is according to a report in RIA Novosti that followed the Russian defense minister Sergey Choi video conference with Russia senior military leadership on April 4. They shared staggering figures of the various artillery systems Russia destroyed since the beginning of this year. This has highlighted the role of loitering munitions which has dramatically evolved from the 2022 .

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to the battle in Ukraine . Also Ukrainian troops have pioneered using civilian and Leisure drones for military purposes by strapping them with explosives and dropping them into enemy positions . According to Shoigu since January 1 , 2023 the Russian military destroyed 59 M 700 and 77 artillery systems 13 M109 Paladin SPGS,14 US made high mobility artillery rocket system HIMARs launchers and 30 SPGS from Poland, Germany , France and the Czech Republic .

How many of these were hit by lancets or other means is unknown . These were however destroyed both in combat positions and at the stage of transportation . Some telegrams groups quoted Shoig , one telegram group which often post battlefield updates and interviews Russian soldiers with their faces blurred said the lancet destroyed 80% of the M109 Paladin self-propelled guns and 25% of the M777 guns out of the total number of such guns destroyed .

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Whether these figures were from the beginning of this year or since February 2022 since the war begin is unclear . The post was however shared in several Russia-friendly groups on facebook and telegram . The most publicity material from Russia minister of defense mod has video of the lancet 3 hitting an M777 at undisclosed locations .

Russian troops can be seem assembling the drone on a catapult launcher before it is recorded by another overhead UAV possibly in Orland 10 and hitting the M77. A video on twitter from April 7 showed another lancet hitting an M109 Paladin from behind while the vehicle was speeding a head . It however does not seem to obliterate the system and only a bright fire is visible at its rear between the engine and the turret.

However another video claimed to be from Bakhmut showed an M109 engulfed in a bright fire and a massive explosion after a lancet 3 struck it from the side . The armed forces of Ukraine AFU had successfully begun targeting thinly stretched Russian supply lines making sustained combat untenable which forced Russia to withdraw to the west side of the Nipper river in Kherson in November 2022 .

Russia then switched to using Lancet 3 loitering munitions Kamikaze or suicide drones to eliminate the need for long range guns rocket artillery and the supply line that feed them. The complications with artillery were not only with their supply lines but also manufacturing their ammunition as the US experienced when it dwindled its own stock of 155 millimeters rounds in the pursuit of supplying Ukraine.

The Armed force of Ukraine AFU were burning through around 11000 rounds in just a few days and amount the American defense industry could only manufacture in a month . Russia too couldn't escape these industrial vagaries . By late February administrative issues within the Russian mod had also triggered friction with the Wagner private military company PMC .

Whose chief Yevgeny Pregujin complained about his fighters not receiving 80 % of the ammunitions they had requested while the Russian military was being prioritized over them . He was later quoted in may telegram groups which paraphrased him as saying that it was essential to mass-produce short drones for more effective counter battery combat against Ukrainian artillery .

The appeal resonated among many Russian defense bloggers who too call for increasing the productions of one-way loitering munitions and arming all units with such systems .