The Ministry of Defense of russia has declared that units of the Wagner Group have, in accordance with existing agreements, handed over more than 2,000 pieces of equipment and weaponry to russian military. They have even presented visual evidence of the specific types of equipment and weaponry that the Wagner members possessed.
It is likely that the ministry revealed only a part of the arsenal received, as the footage, for example, does not include air defense systems that the Wagner Group units used to shoot down 7 aircraft of the russian Aerospace Forces during their rebellion on June 24, 2023.
Read more: Ukraine Entices Global Defense Industry Giants to Breathe Life Into Local Defense Industry, Ensure Defense Capability
However, it turns out that the Wagner Group even had 2S4 Tyulpan 240 mm self-propelled heavy mortar, presumably taken from storage. According to The Military Balance 2022, the russian army had only 40 of such artillery systems in active service at the beginning of 2022, with an additional 390 in storage.
Moreover, the units had 152 mm howitzers of the D-1 type from the time of the Second World War (approximately 700 of these artillery systems were estimated to be in storage within the russian army) and T-12/MT-12 100 mm anti-tank guns (a total of around 2,000 units in storage).
The Nona-S self-propelled artillery systems were also in the arsenal of Wagner units. As of the beginning of 2022, the russian army’s airborne and assault units had 220 of these artillery systems actively deployed, with an additional 500 units stored in warehouses.
Additionally, they proved to have a significant number of self-propelled anti-tank rocket launchers of the Sturm-S type, as well as “gun-trucks” with C-60 anti-aircraft guns mounted on various types of trucks. Additionally, the footage released by the Ministry of Defense revealed the presence of at least two Uragan multiple rocket launchers.
Read more: Germany and the UK Transfers Tanks, IFVs, Patriot Launchers and Ammunition to Ukraine
