Direct proof of use
The directly cited evidence for OF-462 use in the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War comes from open-source imagery and defense reporting. Defense Express reported on September 3, 2022 that Ukraine Weapons Tracker had published video indicating that Ukrainian Armed Forces artillerymen received Iranian-made 122 mm OF-462 high-explosive shells for D-30 howitzers. The report did not identify the time, location, or quantity shown in the video.
Oryx later listed 122 mm OF-462 artillery rounds for the D-30 howitzer among Iranian-made or Iranian-smuggled armament documented in service with Ukrainian forces, with September 2022 as the first sighting. The New Voice of Ukraine separately reported in July 2023 that Ukrainian gunners had again been seen with Iranian-made 122 mm shells, and noted the earlier September 2022 OF-462 sighting attributed to Ukraine Weapons Tracker.
Sources: Defense Express OF-462 Report, Oryx Iranian Arms in Ukraine, New Voice Iranian 122 mm Shells
Timeline
The first documented milestone in the cited record is early September 2022, when the OF-462 shells were reported from video evidence and described as Iranian-made rounds for Ukrainian D-30 artillery. Later public reporting in July 2023 described additional Iranian-made 122 mm shells at the front, but the strongest named OF-462 reference remains the September 2022 sighting.
Sources: Defense Express OF-462 Report, Oryx Iranian Arms in Ukraine, New Voice Iranian 122 mm Shells
Narrative
OF-462 is a Soviet-pattern 122 mm high-explosive fragmentation projectile used in separate-loaded ammunition for D-30 and 2S1 Gvozdika howitzers. STV Group's current full-charge cartridge page describes the HE-462 projectile as equivalent to OF-462 and identifies D-30 and 2S1 howitzers as firing platforms.
In the Ukraine record, the weapon appears as artillery ammunition for Ukrainian Soviet-caliber guns rather than as a complete weapon system. The cited conflict-use sources support Ukrainian possession and field use of OF-462 rounds in the full-scale-war phase; they do not establish confirmed quantities, a precise location, or a settled transfer route. Reporting discussed possible third-country procurement, seizure, or diversion explanations, but treated those routes as unresolved rather than proven.
The broader ammunition context was a wartime shortage of Soviet-caliber artillery rounds. The War Zone reported in October 2022 that Ukraine and its allies were sourcing artillery ammunition from unconventional suppliers after Ukrainian stocks had been heavily depleted, and discussed observed RAF C-17 flights linked by analysts to Pakistan-to-Europe ammunition movement. That context helps explain the appearance of nonstandard 122 mm ammunition in Ukrainian service, but it does not by itself prove the route for the Iranian-made OF-462 rounds.
Sources: STV Full-Charge 122 mm HE Cartridge, Defense Express OF-462 Report, Oryx Iranian Arms in Ukraine, TWZ Third-Party Ammunition
