A female Ukrainian soldier says a U.S.-supplied light mortar and grenade launcher turned the tide in a desperate battle.
The United States has supplied weapons of increasing cost and sophistication to Ukraine including M777 towed howitzers, Javelin top-attack anti-tank missiles, and eventually M1 Abrams main battle tanks and Patriot air defense systems.
But military aid need not always be exotic to have an impact. Starting before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine one year ago and continued since, the U.S. also provided modest quantities of low-tech infantry support weapons—M240 and M2 machine guns, 60-millimeter mortars, Mark 19 automatic grenade launchers, and M82 Barret sniper rifles.
These small arms have made their way both to elite commando units, but also to some of Ukraine’s most under-equipped troops, where they are making a difference as testified by Olha Bihar, known by her callsign “Witch” (Vyzdma).
Formerly a lawyer working on her Ph.D., Witch now commands a mortar platoon in the 204th battalion of the 241st Separate Territorial Defense Force (TDF) Brigade. At least 57,000 women serve in Ukraine’s armed forces, including at least 13,000 in roles near frontline combat.
The lightly armed 241st—ostensibly formed for local defense of the capital Kyiv—was one of several brigades thrust into the thick of the fighting for Bakhmut, a town in Eastern Ukraine of middling strategic value that has become an obsessive focus of Russian offensive operations. Since the fall of 2022, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers and mercenaries have been killed or wounded attempting to capture the city.
In a video, Witch recounts an intense battle between October 5-8, 2022 when her platoon defended Bakhmut’s Siniat ALC asphalt mixing plant. (Her translated comments have been lightly altered for concision.)
??Witch tells the story of the Bakhmut Asphalt Plant❤️ pic.twitter.com/UC3y0NsDjQ
Though intended for direct fire as particularly beastly machine gun, the Mark 19 can be adapted for high-angle indirect attacks, a method improvised by a Marine unit to dispatch Taliban ambushers in Afghanistan. Reportedly, tables for indirect fire between 900 meters to 2 kilometers were included in prior Mark 19 field manuals, but not the latest publication.
In the interview, Witch produces a cell phone video in which Sheva can bee seen adjusting the mortar’s firing angle by propping it up with a chunk of rock.
This is not Witch’s only story involving Bakhmut, Sheva, and their creative use of American weapons, as recounted in an earlier video.
??Witch had a crazy idea in Bakhmut #Ukraine? pic.twitter.com/HyjoV1yqHj
Though the driver was “aghast,” they gave the idea a try:
Intercepted communications apparently revealed Russians forces were vexed by the ‘devil’s chariot,’ which seemed to combine the rate of fire of an automatic grenade launcher with the trajectory of a mortar.
The asphalt plant eventually fell to Russian troops in mid-October 2022, only to be recaptured later that month by a Ukrainian counterattack. Control has seesawed since. While Russia has struggled to hold any parts of Bakhmut proper, it has made progress interdicting all but one of the road Ukraine relies upon to resupply the Ukrainian garrison. Ukrainian forces may therefore eventually be compelled to withdraw while a line of retreat remains open—but only after having absorbed much of the brunt of Russia’s winter offensive.
60-millimeter mortars are a relatively recent addition to Ukraine’s armed forces, as their progenitor, the Soviet Red Army, didn’t much use of light mortars, unlike the U.S. and British armies in World War II. Though much less powerful than medium or heavy mortars, light mortars are highly portable, and can give low-level infantry units a weapon that can accurately bombard points targets with indirect fire.
Video from Ukraine’s SSO reportedly showing a Russian sniper pair coming under 60mm mortar fire. https://t.co/kywzMppr0v pic.twitter.com/JEZ6c4kMc6
Given the prevalence of small-unit actions in Ukraine (squads/platoons/companies), and the difficulty such units can have obtaining support from distant artillery, the mortars give lower-level commanders more flexibility.
The U.S. is known to have supplied Ukraine with 60-millimeter M224 systems, which weighs 47 pounds (or 37.5-lbs for the newer M224A1 model), have a maximum range of 2.1 miles using modern ammunition, and a maximum firing rate of 20 to 30 rounds per minute. Banding visible on the mortar tube in the video appears to identify it as an M224A1, but one apparently missing its M170 bipod.
If you look carefully at her smartphone video - the tube has the evenly spaced bands of the M224A1 … In an earlier interview by the Territorial forces media - there were clearer views of it - but Olha somewhat confusingly called it “M2” … pic.twitter.com/IXMrt14F5Q
Poland also began donating LM-60D and LMP-2017 commando mortars just before the war began. Croatian M84 mortars, Chinese Type 63, and Bulgarian M60CMA 60-millimeter mortars have also been sighted. Ukraine also appears to have acquired Chinese 60-millimeter shells via Albania, Japanese-manufactured bombs and fuses likely supplied via the United States, and even Iranian and Croatian mortar rounds.
Ukraine itself has devised its own light 60-millimeter mortar, the KBA-118, which at 27.5 pounds is two-thirds the weight of the older World War II-era American M2 mortar it’s based on. It’s also producing the beefier 44-pound M-60A Kamerton (“Tuning Fork”) which has a greater range of 2.17-3.4 miles.
Kyiv’s forces have more experience with automatic grenade launchers like the 30-millimeter Soviet AGS-17. The larger-caliber 40-millimeter Mark 19 supplied by the U.S. weighs 77 pounds—and thus is often mounted on a vehicle—and has a practical rate of fire of 60 rounds per minute. It is fed belts of 32 or 48 grenades, shot out at a velocity of 241 meters a second, with an effective blast radius of 10-15 meters using M383 high-explosive rounds. The dual-purpose M430 round has a smaller radius of 5 meters but can penetrate up to three inches of armor, making it effective against light armored vehicles.
Sébastien Roblin has written on the technical, historical, and political aspects of international security and conflict for publications including 19FortyFive, The National Interest, MSNBC, Forbes.com, Inside Unmanned Systems and War is Boring. He holds a Master’s degree from Georgetown University and served with the Peace Corps in China. You can follow his articles on Twitter.
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