Direct proof of use
The clearest public record places Polish rifle-grenade munitions with Ukrainian forces in 2024. The Armourers Bench reported that Polish PGN-60 rifle grenades had appeared with several Ukrainian units in summer 2024, and described a July consignment shared by Joe McDonald, a British volunteer serving with Ukrainian Marines in Kherson, that included PGN-60 anti-tank rifle grenades and KGN anti-personnel rifle grenades.
The same report treated the munitions as drone-adapted warheads rather than rifle-fired rounds. It noted that the original Polish carbine-grenade launchers were long out of service and that the PGN-60s appeared to have been harvested for explosive content or mounted on FPV drones; McDonald's material showed PGN-60 warheads wired for FPV-drone mounting and KGN grenades described as drone-dropped or FPV-mounted payloads.
Sources: Polish Rifle Grenades for Ukrainian Drones
Timeline
Open-source evidence for rifle-grenade devices in Ukraine predates the Polish PGN-60/KGN sightings. The Armourers Bench reported in September 2023 that a small number of videos from Ukraine showed AK-pattern rifles fitted with grenade discharger cups for launching RGD-5 hand grenades, including a Ukrainian Office of Strategic Communications video from November 2022 and later clips that the article treated as demonstrations or limited frontline evidence.
By mid-2024, the evidence shifted from launcher cups to stockpiled rifle-grenade munitions reused as drone payloads. The Polish PGN-60/KGN consignment reported in July 2024 gives the conflict record its strongest specific model identification for rifle grenades in Ukrainian service.
Sources: Grenade Discharger Cups in Ukraine, Polish Rifle Grenades for Ukrainian Drones
Narrative
The documented Ukrainian use does not show a conventional rifle-grenade program built around launching grenades from service rifles. Instead, the sourced cases fit two improvised patterns: cup devices that use blank cartridges to throw hand grenades from AK-pattern rifles, and older purpose-built rifle grenades repurposed as aerial munitions for FPV or drop drones.
For the Polish PGN-60 and KGN cases, the weapon's conflict role is best described as adaptation of existing explosive rifle-grenade stocks into drone warheads. The sources support possession, preparation, and reported use or intended use by Ukrainian units, while leaving the total number transferred, the original delivery channel, and the number of battlefield detonations unspecified.
Sources: Polish Rifle Grenades for Ukrainian Drones, Grenade Discharger Cups in Ukraine
