Press service of Ukraine's 154th Mechanized Brigade has published a few photos from the live fire training of its artillerymen. Among the equipment they use, we can see a few 2S1 Gvozdika 122mm self-propelled howitzers, probably received from Poland.
The stark indication of the possible Polish origin is the camouflage pattern applied to these artillery systems. For reference, see the photo in the heading of the article.
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The most logical explanation is that Ukraine bought the artillery from Polish partners. This would not be unprecedented: in 2023, Warsaw sold 22 units of 2S1 Gvozdika to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as specified in the official report of Polish authorities to the UN Register of Conventional Arms.
Thus, these notable self-propelled guns mark a continuous effort of unannounced artillery procurements done by Kyiv, first from Finland, noticed in August 2023, then from Bulgaria, surfaced in March 2024 — in both cases suggested, once again, by the characteristic camouflage of the 2S1 guns.
Considering these new 2S1 Gvozdika systems were indeed acquired from Poland, an interesting situation comes to light.
To begin with, the aforementioned 154th Mechanized Brigade, now operating these SPGs, is one of the newly formed brigades of the Ukrainian Army. It is notable that in order to equip this new unit, Ukraine used weapons of the former Warsaw Pact standard, which they had to buy without relying on Western partners.
This detail outlines two important tendencies: one is that the aid provided by the West is clearly insufficient to equip the Ukrainian military, and another is the fact that, paradoxically, old Soviet weapons may still be more affordable or available than their Western counterparts on the global arms market.
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