Direct proof of use
Militarnyi reported on 7 June 2022 that Ukrainian servicemen used RPG-18 Mukha disposable light anti-tank launchers while striking a Russian BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle. That report is the clearest open-source item in this record tying the RPG-18 to battlefield use by Ukrainian forces in the full-scale phase of the 2014 Russia-Ukraine War.
The launcher also appears in Ukrainian training and fielding context from the first weeks of the 2022 invasion. The Armourer's Bench documented a Ukrainian training video in which a soldier from a Territorial Defense unit demonstrated and fired an RPG-18, and noted visible East German markings consistent with recently transferred launchers.
Sources: Militarnyi BMP-2 RPG-18 Report, The Armourers Bench RPG-18 Training
Transfer and fielding
Greek reporting listed 815 Soviet-made RPG-18 anti-tank weapons in early Greek military aid to Ukraine after Russia's 24 February 2022 full-scale invasion. Army Recognition's rolling aid list separately recorded the same number of RPG-18 anti-tank rocket launchers delivered to Ukraine in early 2022.
The transfer reporting supports possession and fielding context rather than a specific firing event. Read together with the June 2022 Militarnyi report and the March 2022 Ukrainian training-video coverage, it shows the RPG-18 appearing as a legacy disposable anti-armor weapon in Ukrainian service during the war.
Sources: Greek Role within NATO is Upgraded, Army Recognition Ukraine Aid List, Militarnyi BMP-2 RPG-18 Report, The Armourers Bench RPG-18 Training
Drone adaptation
In September 2024, Army Recognition reported that Ukrainian forces had adapted RPG-18 rocket launchers to FPV drones. The report described the RPG-18 as a disposable, portable anti-tank launcher and framed the adaptation as a way to employ the launcher remotely against armored vehicles or fortified positions.
The Armourer's Bench separately reviewed RPG-armed drone footage from Ukraine and described a 10 September 2024 video showing a Queen Hornet FPV drone carrying an RPG-18 anti-armor weapon at a range, while noting that the short clip did not show the RPG-18 being fired. Later RPG-FPV reporting documented successful firing tests and claimed combat use of grenade-launcher drones, but those later items did not clearly identify the fired launcher as an RPG-18.
Sources: Army Recognition RPG-18 FPV Adaptation, The Armourers Bench RPG-FPV
Role in the war
The RPG-18's documented Ukrainian role was short-range anti-armor use: a light one-shot launcher for infantry and territorial-defense forces, supplemented by foreign transfers of old Soviet-pattern stocks. The confirmed public evidence does not support a precise total of RPG-18 launchers fired in combat or a sustained unit-by-unit service history.
The later FPV-drone material shows an experimental adaptation path rather than a replacement for hand-carried use. Sources directly identify an RPG-18-equipped Ukrainian drone test, but the more developed drone-firing and combat-use reports in 2024-2025 generally describe grenade-launcher or RPG-FPV systems without consistently naming RPG-18 as the fired launcher.
Sources: Militarnyi BMP-2 RPG-18 Report, Army Recognition RPG-18 FPV Adaptation, The Armourers Bench RPG-FPV
