Russian media correspondent Aleksandr Kots won’t be real popular back at the studio. During his proudly boastful reporting, he let slip all the crucial information Ukrainian forces needed to target and destroy one of Putin’s heaviest weapons, in the highly disputed Donbas region.
Media gave away position
Kremlin journalist Aleksandr Kots wasn’t thinking about who might be in his audience when he “accidentally gave away the position of a Russian supersized mortar” in a media report from the Donbas area, Daily Mail reports.
Ukraine blew it to pieces the very next day. The drone footage is spectacular.
With a huge Z emblazoned on his arm, Kots was “proudly showing off the 2S4 Tyulpan 240mm self-propelled heavy mortar.” It was supposed to be a propaganda report to show how great the Russian forces were doing.
The equipment had just been moved there to Severodonetsk from Mariupol. The Kremlin loved what it could do. The media outlet never thought to edit out the location revealing parts before the report hit the airwaves.
This particular weapon is considered the largest caliber mortar system the Russians have in service. The media story notes it fires “huge 288-pound F864 shells to a range of six miles.”
This one won’t be much good at that now. Ukrainians couldn’t wait to post the results of their handiwork.
Showing off the weapon
Kots was gleefully showing off the weapon in his media coverage, going out of his way to display the equipment from several angles.
The Russians won’t be able to fire “Smel’chak laser-guided rounds, 3B11 nuclear shells, and 308 rocket-assisted cargo shells” for quite a while, thanks to his diligent work.
The video released in the media by Ukraine shows the gigantic mortar blasted back to Moscow in “a huge fireball as its ammunition detonates.” That, they say, is “another huge blow to Putin’s botched war effort.”
It’s also the very first “confirmed loss of an 2S4 by Russia during the savage invasion.” They have more, though. “The Kremlin reportedly has as many as 400 inactive mortar systems in reserve.”
According to the propaganda piece in Russian media, the systems are meant to “destroy large buildings and heavy fortifications” Despite claims of major stockpiles, the reality is that “there are only around 50 left in operational service, 12 per district-level High Power Artillery Brigade.”
This could have been the one used to “destroy airport terminals in Donetsk and Luhansk.“
