Russia is set to position howitzer artillery in the military district along the border with Finland which earlier this year joined the NATO alliance.
Since starting a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has been bolstering its military forces along its western borders in response to Finland joining NATO.
The Russian state news agency TASS has announced that testing of news Coalition-SV howitzers has been completed.
Sergei Chemezov, the head of Russian defence conglomerate Rostec has suggested the howitzers could soon appear along the Finnish border.
Chemezov told Tass: “I think they will appear there (in the Northern Military District) soon, since howitzers of this class are needed to provide an advantage over Western artillery models in terms of firing range.”
These howitzers have a 70-kilometre (44-mile) range and a firing rate of more than ten rounds per minute.
It comes after Russian forces confirmed one of its warships in the Black Sea had been destroyed by Ukraine’s air force. Pictures and videos show the blast sending a giant fireball into the air.
Ukraine has reported carrying out the airstrike on the Crimean port town of Feodosia.
The commander of Ukraine’s air force, Mykola Oleshchuk, stated that the airstrike destroyed a Russian Navy vessel known as the Novocherkask landing ship.
Sergei Aksyonov, Russia’s appointed governor of Crimea, has stated that one person was killed and two others were injured in Ukraine’s airstrike.
Videos shared on various Russian news platforms showed intense explosions and fires in the region, which has a population of about 69,000 people.
