A video of russian invaders using a rare 122-mm D-74 towed gun was posted on social media. This is the first appearance of this type of artillery system in the russian army during the full-scale war against Ukraine.
The peculiarity of the situation is that D-74 guns were produced in the 1950s in rather limited quantities, so there were no guns of this type in the russian army's storage.
Read more: North Korean Shells Supplied to russia Are Still Bad But the Quantity is Overwhelming
According to the Military Balance 2023, there were no D-74s at warehouses in russia. At the same time 2,000 units of 122-mm M-30 howitzers dating back to World War II were recorded.
Therefore, it was more logical to expect the possible appearance of M-30s in russian troops than the rare D-74 guns. Moreover, according to russians sources, the D-74 guns were sold to "people's democracies" before the 1980s.
At the same time, there is a nuance in the fact that North Korea may have these D-74s at its disposal. Also, these guns were produced by China under the Type 59 index.
Based on this information, several versions of the possible origin of the D-74 guns in the russian army should be constructed.
It should be emphasized that in this case we are talking only about a single appearance of this type of weapon at russian disposal. So far, there is no clear trend to speak of.
Therefore, both the version that russians received D-74 as part of "assistance" from North Korea and the version that russians actually found such a rarity in their warehouses are possible.
Earlier Defense Express reported that with $140 billion spending plan for 2025, russia had prepared for a decades-long war with Ukraine.
Read more: Chinese Laser Weapon Similar to British Dragonfire Reportedly Spotted in Iran