Ukraine's drones destroy D-74 artillery system possibly supplied to Russia by North Korea
Illustrative photo: Unmanned Systems Forces destroy Russian D-74 artillery system (Getty Images)
Ukrainian forces have destroyed a rare piece of Russian army artillery, which is believed to be of North Korean origin, states a serviceman from the 413th Raid Regiment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Unmanned Systems, and weapons expert Ivan Kyrychevskyi from Defense Express.
According to him, during one of the combat operations, UAV operators located and struck a 122-mm D-74 corps artillery gun. The unusual aspect of this case is that such artillery systems were formally not listed in the Russian Armed Forces’ storage depots.
"The D-74 was produced back in the 1950s and was later actively supplied to countries of the communist bloc," Kyrychevskyi said.
The possibility of "unaccounted stockpiles" in Russia cannot be ruled out, but it seems more likely that the system was supplied from North Korea, where these systems are still in service. Previously, the Russian army had already used North Korean copies of 122-mm ammunition, which, according to available information, Russia does not produce domestically.
A key feature of the D-74 is its firing range of up to 23.9 km, significantly exceeding that of the more common D-30 gun in the Russian army, which has a maximum range of 16 km. This allows the operator to position the artillery system further from the front line.
The D-74 has a combat weight of around 5.5 tons, a firing rate of 6–7 rounds per minute, and a crew of up to 10 personnel.
"The appearance of the D-74, dating back to the 1950s, in Russian service since autumn 2024 — regardless of the supply source — is a direct indicator of the acute depletion of Russia’s artillery stocks," the serviceman noted.
Against the backdrop of losses exceeding 35,000 artillery systems, any external supplies become critically important for the Kremlin. The destruction of such rare pieces further exacerbates the Russian army’s artillery problems.
Previously, we reported that Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces carried out a powerful strike on a Russian GRU unit in the temporarily occupied territory of the Donetsk region.
