During the fighting in Donbass, the Armed Forces of Ukraine lost nearly all mortars of the Soviet times. It was announced by the AFU weapons chief, Major-General Nikolai Shevtsov.

‘During the active hostilities, we lost almost the entire arsenal of mortars, which had remained since the Soviet Union,’ he said.

Shevtsov called supplying the troops with mortars an acute problem. He noted that Ukraine had tried to buy them abroad, but negotiations with foreign manufacturers had failed.

According to the general, instead of the lost weapons, the AFU are now provided with a new Ukrainian development - mortars "Hammer" produced at the Kiev plant «Mayak".

Earlier, in the Ukrainian media, there were reports about the shortcomings of the new mortar. Journalists published a note of one of the mortar batteries commanders that the new mortars began to rust and give misfires in less than a month of use.

According to: RIA