The SBU Security Service of Ukraine has reported an unexploded piece of ordnance of the Russian-made Smerch heavy multiple rocket launcher (MRL) was found in the Anti-Terrorist Operation zone in eastern Ukraine.
The rocket landed in the yard of a local resident in the village of Berezove in Maryinsky district, Donetsk region, the SBU`s press center said.
Military experts concluded that the marking of the rocket reveals that Russia`s hybrid military forces in Donbas use 300mm (12 in) rocket projectiles fitted with fragmentation submunitions scattering cluster warheads.
”These projectiles are made only in the Russian Federation, and the Smerch system can only be operated by professionally trained military personnel,” the SBU said.
Such rocket projectiles contain 72 elements of submunition 9N235 with 6,912 fragments to damage non-armored military hardware and 25,920 anti-personnel fragments. The area to be affected by one element is 300-1,100 square meters. The marking consists of a code number (ZP-2-95) of a factory that produced the projectile (the factory is based in Russia, as Ukraine did not produce the said elements), a batch number and the year of manufacture (1995).
See also: The Aggressor’s Arsenal: Russian tanks, armored vehicles and artillery in Eastern Ukraine
