The Russian military has claimed it destroyed a rare Czech-supplied DANA wheeled howitzer, releasing a video of a suicide drone strike on such an artillery piece on Sunday.
The drone footage unveiled by the military shows a Ukrainian howitzer firing from a position concealed among trees. It is then targeted by a Lancet-family suicide drone, which hits the howitzer from the rear and appears to ignite a fire. The military did not elaborate about when or where the Ukrainian artillery piece was targeted.
A number of DANA-family systems were supplied by the Czech Republic to Ukraine early in the conflict.
The original DANA Vz77 artillery pieces, which were introduced in the 1970s in the former Czechoslovakia, are capable of firing Soviet 152mm shells at a maximum range of 20km.
Ukraine has also reportedly received a number of upgraded versions – the DANA M2 – from the Czech Republic earlier this year. The improved howitzers feature computerized fire control, which make them more precise and allow them to operate with a smaller crew.
Kiev has also received a number of Slovak-developed derivatives of the DANA-family howitzers, called the Zuzana 2. The Slovak-made artillery pieces use NATO caliber 155mm shells and are said to have exceptional long-range accuracy and a high rate of fire.