Ukraine firing 122-mm projectiles manufactured in Iran in 2023, OSINT specialist claims

A sharp-eyed OSINT (Open-source intelligence) specialist has made the intriguing discovery that the Ukrainian military is currently shelling Russian invasion forces with Iranian-made 122-mm shells produced in 2023.

The OSINT specialist, nicknamed War Noir (@war_noir), posted a photo on Twitter showing shells inscribed with messages from Ukrainian gunners to their Russian enemies. However, the shells also showed lot numbers and the year of manufacture– 2023, The New Voice of Ukraine reports.

#Russia / #Ukraine 🇷🇺🇺🇦: Several photos posted by the combatants of the #Ukrainian Forces' Artillery Units:

The 122mm HE projectiles and charges is used by the units appear to be produced by #Iran 🇮🇷 in 2023.
As can be seen; the LOT numbers of the projectiles are: 1/3/6/7.… pic.twitter.com/DTLOVgMU5A

— War Noir (@war_noir) July 30, 2023

All the same, this is not the first time Ukrainian gunners have been seen with Iranian-made munitions: In September 2022, the Ukraine Weapons Tracker OSINT project on Twitter showed a video of OF-462 high-explosive fragmentation projectiles from Iran, which it claims were used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

It is not known how the shells made in Iran got to Ukraine. One Twitter user responding to War Noir suggested they had been confiscated by the U.S. military from Iranian ships that had been carrying the shells to the war-torn Middle-Eastern state of Yemen.

#Ukraine: We obtained another video demonstrating 🇮🇷 Iranian OF-462 122mm projectiles used by Ukrainian artillerymen - this time with much clearer markings, unequivocally identifying them as manufactured in Iran in 2022.https://t.co/3RXsgbN8VM pic.twitter.com/Z5GIELaDAk

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) September 6, 2022

Earlier, UK newspaper the Financial Times wrote that the Ukrainian Armed Forces were using ammunition from North Korea, manufactured in the DPRK in the 1980s and 1990s, at the front.

According to the Ukrainian military, the shells were "removed from a ship" by a friendly country.