2014 Russia-Ukraine War

M/41D 120 mm mortar in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War

Ukraine accepted the foreign-made M/41D 120 mm mortar into Armed Forces service in August 2023, documenting the older Finnish-Swedish heavy mortar as part of Ukraine's externally supplied indirect-fire inventory during the full-scale war.

Weapon profileM/41D 120 mm mortar
SideUkraineRoleFire SupportTraining & Foreign Aid
M/41D 120 mm mortar, 120 mm towed heavy mortar, Artillery - 2014 Russia-Ukraine War
Image source: Wikimedia Commons Granatkastare m/41 image

Evidence Map

ClaimSources
Ukraine accepted the foreign-made 120 mm M/41D mortar into Armed Forces service under a 28 August 2023 defence-minister order.

Sources: ArmyInform Ukrainian adoption notice, Defense Express Ukrainian adoption report, Ukrinform AFU adoption report, Ukrainska Pravda adoption report

The service-adoption mechanism was described by Ukrainian officials as a rapid wartime process for foreign weapons and military equipment provided to Ukraine.

Sources: ArmyInform Ukrainian adoption notice, Defense Express Ukrainian adoption report

The M/41D belongs to the Tampella 120 Krh/40 and Swedish granatkastare m/41 120 mm mortar family and is relevant as indirect-fire support equipment.

Sources: ArmyInform M/41D profile

The cited public sources support adoption and fielding context, but not a specific Ukrainian firing incident, unit, quantity, or battlefield location.

Sources: ArmyInform Ukrainian adoption notice, Defense Express Ukrainian adoption report, Ukrinform AFU adoption report, Ukrainska Pravda adoption report

Timeline

M/41D 120 mm mortar In 2014 Russia-Ukraine War

  1. Ukrainian service-adoption order signed

    Ukraine's defence minister signed an order accepting several foreign artillery systems and mortars into Armed Forces service, including the 120 mm M/41D mortar.

    Sources: ArmyInform Ukrainian adoption notice, Defense Express Ukrainian adoption report, Ukrinform AFU adoption report, Ukrainska Pravda adoption report

  2. ArmyInform reports the adoption list

    ArmyInform reported the 28 August order and listed the 120 mm M/41D among the foreign-made mortars accepted into Ukrainian Armed Forces service.

    Sources: ArmyInform Ukrainian adoption notice

  3. ArmyInform profiles the M/41D

    ArmyInform published a profile describing the M/41D's Finnish-Swedish lineage, 120 mm mortar role, and relevance to Ukraine's wartime mortar inventory.

    Sources: ArmyInform M/41D profile

Documented Use

Direct proof of use

The M/41D 120 mm mortar appears in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War record through Ukrainian service-adoption reporting, not through a publicly verified firing incident. ArmyInform reported that a 28 August 2023 order by Ukraine's defence minister accepted several foreign artillery systems and mortars into Armed Forces service, including the 120 mm M/41D.

Defense Express, Ukrinform, and Ukrainska Pravda reported the same order and tied it to foreign-made weapons and military equipment provided to Ukraine during the war. Defense Express identified the M/41D as a Swedish 120 mm mortar approved for service by the Ukrainian army, while the other reports cited Ukraine's Ministry of Defence for the broader adoption list.

Sources: ArmyInform Ukrainian adoption notice, Defense Express Ukrainian adoption report, Ukrinform AFU adoption report, Ukrainska Pravda adoption report

Adoption and assistance context

The adoption order was part of a wartime mechanism for moving foreign weapons and military equipment into Ukrainian service. ArmyInform quoted Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov describing the process as a rapid route for accepting equipment provided to Ukraine, with NATO codification named as a key factor for materiel arriving through international technical assistance.

The same ArmyInform notice said that, from 24 February 2022 to the August 2023 announcement, 246 types of weapons and military equipment had been accepted into service or authorized for operation in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. That statistic places the M/41D entry inside the full-scale invasion's wider foreign-assistance and urgent-fielding environment.

Sources: ArmyInform Ukrainian adoption notice, Defense Express Ukrainian adoption report

Battlefield role

Within the sourced Ukraine record, the M/41D is best described as foreign-supplied 120 mm mortar fire-support equipment for Ukraine. ArmyInform's later M/41D profile described the system as a 120 mm mortar of the Tampella 120 Krh/40 and Swedish granatkastare m/41 family, intended for indirect fire against personnel, fire positions, trenches, field shelters, and mortar batteries.

The cited public sources do not identify a Ukrainian unit, a delivery quantity, a firing date, or a battlefield location for the M/41D in Ukraine. The record therefore treats the August 2023 evidence as confirmed service adoption and fielding context, while leaving specific combat employment unconfirmed in the public sources used here.

Sources: ArmyInform M/41D profile, ArmyInform Ukrainian adoption notice, Defense Express Ukrainian adoption report

Related Weapons by Role

120-PM-38, 120 mm towed heavy mortar, ArtilleryArtillery120-PM-38120 mm towed heavy mortarThe 120-PM-38, also known as the M1938, is a Soviet 120 mm smoothbore heavy mortar designed under B. I. Shavyrin and built for infantry fire support. Its large bomb, two-wheel transport arrangement, and roughly 5.7 km range made it a durable regimental mortar design; OSCE monitoring documented PM-38 mortars in Donbas heavy-weapons holding and storage records during the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War, while Oryx listed M-1938 heavy mortars in Yemen's pre-war army inventory.
120mm MO-120-AM50, 120 mm smoothbore heavy mortar, ArtilleryArtillery120mm MO-120-AM50120 mm smoothbore heavy mortarThe 120mm MO-120-AM50 is a French Brandt smoothbore heavy mortar developed after World War II and fielded from the 1950s as a towed, baseplate-fired, or carriage-fired infantry support weapon. It predates the later MO-120 RT rifled mortar family and appears in the catalog through two direct evidence lanes: an Imperial War Museums object record for an Argentine Army Brandt 120 mm mortar captured during the Falklands War, and SIPRI transfer data recording Denmark's 2024 delivery of MW-50 120mm mortars to Ukraine.
2 more weapons
Back to M/41D 120 mm mortarBrowse 2014 Russia-Ukraine War

Sources