Dozens of ripped-off turrets from combat vehicles are strewn on the street, many with their hulls scattered around, deformed beyond recognition. The asphalt is a mess of armoured vehicles, fuel tankers and lorries. The only reminder that this used to be a street is an even row of neatly pruned trees. The guns from the charred Russian equipment lie here and there among the scrap metal.
These images spread across Ukraine in early March 2022, and soon after, Vokzalna Street in Bucha became known all over the world. The footage was of a burnt-out Russian convoy that had been on its way to Kyiv. And this convoy had been destroyed by none other than the Ukrainian army’s most powerful howitzer, the 203mm Pion.
This howitzer weighs almost 47 tonnes, and the gun itself weighs 14.5 tonnes. It is capable of firing 110kg shells up to 37 km. By contrast, 155mm ammunition weighs half as much. The enormous kinetic force of the 203mm shell devastates everything around the impact site, leaving no chance for buildings or equipment to withstand the strike.
Advertisement:
“There are targets like four self-propelled artillery units – you shoot one at a time and they all burn,” explains Oleh Shevchuk, the former commander of the 43rd Separate Artillery Brigade.
The 43rd Brigade is the only unit in the Armed Forces that has these systems in service. Although Shevchuk has since been promoted and handed over command to his successor, the defence of Kyiv was a defining moment for him, his soldiers, and their artillery.
The destroyed convoy of Russian paratroopers on Vokzalna Street in Bucha
Photo: Slidstvo Info
Despite there being only a few dozen Pions in Ukraine, they have been deployed across all the major front lines over the three and a half years of the full-scale war. These howitzers were involved in the liberation of Kherson, helped to slow Russian advances in Bakhmut and Vuhledar, supported the defence of Pokrovsk, and took part in offensives in Kharkiv Oblast.
In that time, the systems have fired thousands of shells and have had their barrels replaced twice as they gradually wore out. You might have thought the guns’ ammunition and lifespan would have run out long ago, but Pions remain in action today.
In this report, Oboronka explains how the crews of these powerful howitzers have saved Ukraine multiple times and are still serving on the front lines, and considers what future role they may play in the defence forces, following recent reports of the potential transfer of 203mm systems from Greece.
A second lease of life
The 2S7 Pion self-propelled artillery unit was one of the most powerful systems in the USSR. They were intended to destroy well-protected command posts and storage points, and their gun was designed to be used with a tactical nuclear munition.
The gun is mounted on a modified T-80 tank chassis, 10.5 metres long and almost 3.5 metres wide. To improve reliability and simplify maintenance, the designers fitted a diesel engine from the T-72 tank into the system instead of the original gas turbine propulsion system.
Ukraine inherited 99 Pion units from the Soviet Union. All were taken out of service and decommissioned in the early 2000s. Five systems were supplied to Georgia ahead of the war that Russia unleashed on 8 August 2008. The remainder were kept outdoors at a storage base in Rivne Oblast.
2S7 Pion at the storage base in Rivne Oblast
Photo: open sources
“The 2S7 Pion units were the newest machines in Ukraine,” said Major General Ivan Lisovyi, who was directly involved in restoring the systems, in an interview with Channel 5. “Their instruments hadn’t even logged operating hours. After 10 years in storage they were in quite a state… Imagine: they were just out in the open, not in warehouses. Rain gradually sank them into the ground. The tracks were completely bogged down in the mud.”
With the start of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) in 2014, the command decided to return the Pions to service. [The ATO is the term used from 2014 to 2018 to identify combat actions in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts against Russian military forces and pro-Russian separatists – ed.] The guns were repaired by Operational Command Pivnich (North) at its storage base and in Shepetivka by Ukroboronprom, Ukraine’s largest state-run arms company. After repairs, the first three systems were sent to Donetsk Oblast.
Pions took part in the battle for Donetsk Airport and were deployed near Volnovakha and Debaltseve. Their use in these operations was classified. General Lisovyi recounted how, under the command of officer Yurii Yula, the guns destroyed the old airport terminal and killed officers from Vympel, a Russian FSB special unit.
After the Minsk agreements were signed, the Pions were retained as an element of deterrence and were withdrawn 30 km from the line of contact.
There were few officers with experience of using the Pion system. Younger generations of artillerymen did not receive specific training on them, so a large proportion of the artillery crews had to be taught from scratch.
However, after basic restoration work, General Lisovyi’s team managed to put two 2S7 battalions into service. Each battalion comprised three batteries, and each battery had four guns.
At the end of 2014, the 43rd Separate Artillery Brigade was formed on the basis of the 5th battalion with Pions from the 26th Separate Artillery Brigade. Over the following five years, the brigade was fully equipped with 203-calibre guns.
One of the battalion commanders of the newly formed brigade was Yurii Yula, who took part in forming the first units equipped with these howitzers.
During Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which started in February 2022, Yula – one of Ukraine’s most experienced artillerymen – was entrusted with the command of the 27th Rocket Artillery Brigade, which received the first US-provided HIMARS multiple-launch rocket systems. Tragically, Colonel Yula was killed by a missile strike on the city of Sumy on 13 April 2025.
Colonel Yurii Yula was killed by a missile strike on the city of Sumy
Photo: Berdychiv City Council
By the time he retired, Major General Ivan Lisovyi had managed to return 48 2S7 Pion guns to service. State companies launched a full-scale campaign to repair and restore these guns. Thanks to the targeted state policy of reinstating artillery as a weapon of deterrence and active opposition to the Russians, the Armed Forces also received hundreds of other self-propelled and towed guns.
Moreover, regular drills, exercises and rotations in Donbas enabled the artillerymen to maintain a high level of training and continually improve their professional skills, which they demonstrated to the full in 2022.
Pions during the full-scale invasion
The first time Pions were used after Russia’s full-scale invasion was by a battalion of the brigade stationed in Donbas that met the Russians near Volnovakha when the invaders were attempting to cut off the route to Mariupol from the north.
Another battalion was fully staffed in Kyiv Oblast and was ready to be deployed to Donbas. It was immediately redeployed to Kyiv, arriving at positions near Troieshchyna and Obolon – the north-eastern and northern districts of Kyiv. On 25 February 2022, the guns opened fire on the advancing Russian forces. Using their 203mm calibre, they destroyed Russian airborne troops which had landed at Hostomel airfield.
The 43rd Separate Artillery Brigade training a few days before Russia’s full-scale invasion
Photo: ArmyInform
According to Oleh Shevchuk, in the early days of the invasion, the Pions of the 43rd Brigade, together with a ceremonial battery of 122mm D-30 guns, were the only artillery units defending the capital.
One battalion of the brigade was still forming and, as it was equipped, it sent reinforcements to Kyiv. In the early days, reservists and volunteer soldiers swarmed into the unit and were tasked with maintaining the repaired self-propelled guns.
In Kyiv Oblast, the gunners began a full-on hunt for Russian hardware. They attacked all kinds of equipment, including Solntsepyok flamethrower systems, Grad multiple-launch rocket systems, anti-aircraft systems, command posts, fuel tankers and electronic warfare assets. According to the brigade commander at the time, Shevchuk, in a month of defending Kyiv the Pions destroyed around 2,500 units of Russian equipment.
“For the Pions near Kyiv everything was simple,” an officer of the 43rd Separate Artillery Brigade who took part in the defence of Kyiv tells Ukrainska Pravda on condition of anonymity. “We simply drove into a field, deployed and worked. We had standard Soviet shells with which we could fire to a maximum range of 37 km. We had time to prepare. There were almost no drones then. Sometimes Bayraktars [Turkish drones in the Ukrainian forces’ possession] adjusted our fire, but in most cases observers on the ground helped us. Our intelligence officers or concerned citizens would tell us where to focus our firing by making phone calls.
Sometimes we’d stand in our firing positions for 12-14 hours. Sometimes for two or three days. Of course, it was cold. But volunteers helped a lot, supported us and brought food to the positions.”
A Ukrainian 2S7 Pion firing
Photo: Ihor Tkachov
In February and March 2022, the daily ammunition expenditure for one Pion could exceed 60 rounds. Lorries constantly delivered ammunition to the guns. The fact that the Russians did not have any drones at the time meant that these operations were able to take place at a blistering tempo.
After repelling the Russian advance on Kyiv, the brigade’s battalions dispersed across the country. They took up positions from Volyn Oblast in Ukraine’s west – to deter a possible offensive from Belarus – to Mykolaiv Oblast in Ukraine’s south, where they were needed to halt attempts by the Russians to push into the Ukrainian steppe.
The Pion battalion that had been in Donbas at the time of the full-scale invasion took part in stopping the Russians on the Siverskyi Donets, Volnovakha and Donetsk fronts. The battalion that was later redeployed from Kyiv took positions on the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson fronts.
While operating in the south, the guns had to move constantly. Sometimes a gun would travel 30-40 km to fire at a target and then return to its positions. Today such freedom of movement for artillery is hard to imagine. The sky is almost continuously teeming with Russian “birds”, aka drones.
Also, the Russians’ counterbattery efforts in 2022 were unimpressive. The artillerymen were able to fire from a position and withdraw gradually. The Russian response would be both late and inaccurate.
“On the Kherson front we helped the advance and pushed from two sides,” an officer of the 43rd Brigade told Ukrainska Pravda. “One battery operated from the Kryvyi Rih side and another moved from Bereznehuvate. The pace was frantic. We even passed by the famous watermelon monument. We didn’t get all the way to Kherson – that was the infantry’s job. But problems did occur. After that famous watermelon, the connection would vanish entirely. The Starlink system stopped working there. We’d have to drive back 10 km to pick up coordinates, then return and carry out attacks.”
Throughout 2023 the shortage of standard Soviet shells worsened considerably. By the end of the year, artillerymen were increasingly having to conserve scarce rounds.
The Pions were also able to fire concrete-piercing projectiles from Soviet 203mm B-4 guns. There were not many of them, but they helped halt Russian advances on the Vuhledar front. When the Russians occupied abandoned industrial workshops or mine premises, the concrete-piercing rounds destroyed buildings with Russian personnel inside.
Our source’s battalion fired its last serviceable round on 29 January 2024. After that, the unit faced re-armament.
A Ukrainian 2S7 Pion firing
Photo: Ihor Tkachov
The process of re-arming the 43rd Separate Artillery Brigade with German 155mm Panzerhaubitze 2000 systems began at the start of 2023. Crews trained in Germany, and subsequently Ukrainian gunners themselves trained specialists. Later the brigade received one of the world’s best self-propelled artillery units – the Archer.
It seemed the era of the legendary Pions was drawing to a close.
However, in June 2023, the US Department of Defense officially announced it would begin supplying unspecified 203mm US-made rounds to Ukraine. By the end of the month, photos of American M106 shells of that calibre were appearing in Ukraine.
An M106 203mm projectile
Photo: open sources
The establishment of supplies of American M106s enabled a more gradual re-arming of brigade units with Western systems. The Pions resumed full operations, repelling Russian attacks near Donetsk and Pokrovsk.
Greece now plans to send approximately 150,000 203mm shells to Ukraine. This includes 50,000 M106 rounds, 40,000 M650 HERA rounds with a booster, 30,000 M404 ICM cluster munitions and 30,000 M509A1 DPICM cluster munitions.
However, there are potential issues with such munitions. Most have been stored in warehouses since the 1960s and 70s. The propellant charges in the rounds may have become damp.
The Czechoslovak Group, one of the procurement contractors for the Armed Forces under a Czech initiative to send Ukraine millions of artillery rounds, has reported that about 50% of the munitions it bought in other countries last year proved to be of poor quality. Such rounds are sent for repacking, delaying their delivery to Ukraine.
Therefore, a sober assessment is needed of how many rounds in that batch will actually be ready for use and how many may be stuck at military factories in Europe.
The Pions themselves have now been using American ammunition for over two years. While ammunition can still be found, replacing barrels that have reached the end of their service life is becoming increasingly difficult.
Developing and establishing production of new barrels for the Pions is likely economically unviable. So sooner or later, Ukraine will have to replace its principal and only 203mm gun or abandon use of that calibre entirely.
Will the M110 replace the Pion?
In addition to the 150,000 rounds, Greece has opened a discussion about offloading 60 US-provided M110A2 systems to Ukraine. These are 203mm self-propelled howitzers.
Pavlo Narozhnyi, who heads the Reaktyvna Poshta charity and has been assisting Ukrainian artillerymen throughout the war, is sceptical about the effectiveness of the M110s offered by Greece. Although modernised in the late 1960s, their barrel length is one and a half times shorter than that of the Pion. This will affect range and accuracy.
A US-made M110A2 self-propelled gun with a 39.5-calibre barrel length
Photo: open sources
“This system was already obsolete in the 1970s-80s,” says Narozhnyi. “The range of a rocket-assisted projectile in the M110 is less than the Pion’s range with a standard high-explosive shell.
Also, this system is extremely difficult to conceal. It is just as large and requires a substantial casemate. It will not fire accurately from open positions. In addition, because of its range it will only be able to fire at the forward line. It can demolish fortifications and dugouts on the line of contact, but it’s not going to lob strikes far behind the lines.
Another equally important problem is that these systems were manufactured in the 1960s. If we receive 60 vehicles, perhaps 25-30 will be fit for combat. The others may be taken apart for spare parts. Moreover, the M110 uses a unique chassis – finding spare parts will be difficult.
One of our main tasks will be finding barrels for these guns. Each barrel must have a logbook recording its firing life so its resource can be forecast. Guns that have long been stored abroad may simply lack such records, and wear can only be assessed by a loss of accuracy.”
Narozhnyi estimates that the rounds supplied will be enough for around 25 operational guns to fire roughly 5,000 shells – not a large quantity given the intensity of the front. That might last two to three months of high intensity combat.
The M106 projectile weighs 20 kg less than the Pion’s standard high-explosive round – 90 kg versus 110 kg. Thus both range and striking power will be reduced. The problem of large dimensions and other nuances of operation remain.
However, M110s do have one advantage: their wide distribution. These self-propelled systems are still in service in Türkiye, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Bahrain and other countries. Each of those states is a US ally, and, through Washington’s mediation, ammunition, spare parts and the systems themselves could find their way to Ukraine.
There will be plenty of work for the 203-calibre weapons. They won’t be able to destroy deep rear-area targets, but the Pions have conserved barrel life by firing at the line of contact. Their power is still required to demolish concrete structures and buildings at the front.
A Ukrainian Pion firing at Russian positions
Photo: 43rd Brigade
Although the Russians have tried to eliminate Ukraine’s largest artillery calibre, the Pions remain in service and continue to hit Russian positions daily. There are still tasks in which these guns outperform NATO systems and the half-weight shells they employ.
So Ukraine’s most significant artillery system will remain on the battlefield and will continue to bother the Russians, but it seems the Pions’ brightest hours are now in the glorious past of the battles won in 2022-2024.
***
The days when a Pion could travel 30-40 km to a firing position are long gone. Today the skies are filled with Russian drones, and artillery follows a strict rule: do not operate while Russian aircraft are in the sky.
Gun crews have begun to be equipped with pump-action shotguns and mobile drone detection systems.
The Reaktyvna Poshta charity has launched a fundraiser to buy Chuika 3.0 drone detectors. These devices warn artillerymen of approaching Russian drones within a 4-km radius of their positions. You can support the servicemen via this link.
Translation: Myroslava Zavadska
Editing: Shoël Stadlen
