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Germany has been dumping its stockpiles of Soviet era weapons in Ukraine on the hope of slowing down the Russian special military operation in the country.
On March 16, the armed forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic showcased one of several German-made RPG-18 light anti-tank rocket launcher which were recently captured from Ukrainian nationalists.
The launcher was made in East Germany in 1988. The Königswartha combine of the German Democratic Republic produced these Soviet launchers from 1978 to 1989.
The RPG-18 fires a 64 mm PG-18 HEAT [high-explosive anti-tank] warhead mounted on a small rocket capable of engaging targets within 200 meters. The weapon can penetrate up to 375 mm of conventional armor.
#Russia #Ukraine 🇷🇺🇺🇦: #DPR/#DNR has released photos of a captured an interesting VEB RPG-18 single-use AT weapon in #Donetsk.
VEB RPG-18s were produced in East #Germany/#DDR between 1978-89 and this one appears to be made in 1988. pic.twitter.com/LtIVEImkiE
— War Noir (@war_noir) March 16, 2022
Germany didn’t destroy these outdated weapons after the unification, likely due to the high cost. Now, it is apparently dumping them in Ukraine as “military aid”.
While Germany supplied the old RPG-18s to Ukraine in secret, the supply of other more modern weapons were publicly announced. On February 26, Berlin said that it will send 1,000 Panzerfaust 3 light anti-tank weapons and 500 FIM-92 Stinger MANPADs [man-portable air-defense missile systems] to Ukrainian forces. On March 3, Berlin announced that an additional 2,700 9K32 Strela-2m MANPADs will be supplied.
Germany, like the rest of the US-led coalition currently backing the Kiev government, hopes that these military supplies will put an end to the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, which began on February 24. These hopes will not likely materialize any time soon.
