Direct proof of use
Public U.S. security-assistance records tie air-to-ground rocket transfers to Ukraine during the full-scale phase of the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War. A January 2023 U.S. package listed 4,000 Zuni aircraft rockets, and a May 2023 U.S. fact sheet listed both 4,000 Zuni aircraft rockets and more than 7,000 Hydra-70 aircraft rockets among committed security assistance.
Battlefield reporting later connected those representative rocket families to Ukrainian aircraft. TWZ reported photographic evidence of U.S. Zuni rockets arming Ukrainian Su-25 attack jets in May 2023, and in August 2023 reported video evidence of Ukrainian Mi-24 Hind helicopters armed with U.S.-supplied 70 mm Hydra rockets in M261 pods.
Sources: U.S. Ukraine Fact Sheet Jan. 6 2023, U.S. Ukraine Fact Sheet May 21 2023, TWZ Zuni Su-25 Evidence, TWZ Ukrainian Mi-24 Hydra Rockets
Timeline
The documented Western rocket supply sequence began with U.S. Zuni aircraft rockets in January 2023, followed by U.S. Hydra-70 aircraft rockets publicly listed in May 2023. Open-source reporting then showed these rocket families adapted to Ukrainian Soviet-designed aircraft: Zunis on Su-25s and Hydras on Mi-24s.
Canada added a later CRV-7 transfer path. Canadian government records say the first 2,160 CRV-7 rocket motors announced in June 2024 were delivered to Ukraine in September 2024, the 1,280 CRV-7 warheads announced in September 2024 were delivered in December 2024, and delivery of the remaining 80,000 CRV-7 rocket motors was completed in April 2025.
Sources: U.S. Ukraine Fact Sheet Jan. 6 2023, U.S. Ukraine Fact Sheet May 21 2023, TWZ Zuni Su-25 Evidence, TWZ Ukrainian Mi-24 Hydra Rockets, Canada Military Support to Ukraine
Narrative
In this catalog record, air-to-ground rocket is a class label rather than a single model. The Ukraine usage record is therefore limited to representative aircraft-rocket families that sources directly connect to the war: U.S. 5-inch Zuni rockets, U.S. 70 mm Hydra-70 rockets, and Canadian CRV-7 rocket stocks.
The U.S. Zuni and Hydra-70 transfers addressed Ukraine's need to keep Soviet-designed fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft armed as Soviet-standard rocket stocks were strained. TWZ described Ukrainian helicopters and Su-25 ground-attack jets using unguided rocket volleys against Russian positions, with Zuni and Hydra integration adding Western aircraft rockets to that same strike and fire-support pattern.
The CRV-7 transfer was documented as surplus Canadian inventory rather than a separately verified battlefield firing record in the sources used here. Canada described the rockets as former Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 rocket motors and warheads, and its public support tracker recorded staged deliveries to Ukraine from September 2024 through April 2025.
Sources: TWZ Zuni Su-25 Evidence, TWZ Ukrainian Mi-24 Hydra Rockets, Canada Military Support to Ukraine, Canada CRV-7 Ukraine Assistance
