Direct proof of use
Conflict Armament Research documented RPK-family light machine guns in Ukraine during field investigations of weapons, ammunition, and related materiel recovered from armed formations operating in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk. The report states that Ukrainian defence and security forces recovered the featured items between 2014 and 2019 from those armed formations or from individuals allegedly connected to them.
The documented RPK-family sample consisted of one 7.62 x 39 mm RPK and three 5.45 x 39 mm RPK-74 light machine guns. CAR recorded the 7.62 mm RPK in Kramatorsk on 17 September 2019, and recorded RPK-74 examples in Severodonetsk on 19 December 2018, Sarny on 6 May 2019, and Kramatorsk on 17 September 2019.
Sources: Weapons of the War in Ukraine
Timeline
CAR's dated documentation places RPK-74 examples in the recovered materiel sample from late 2018 through September 2019. The 7.62 mm RPK was documented on the same September 2019 Kramatorsk fieldwork date as one of the RPK-74 examples.
On 15 October 2020, the Government of Ukraine responded to CAR trace requests for the RPK and the three RPK-74s. For each weapon, Ukrainian authorities reported that it was not in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, had not been recorded as stolen, lost, or written off, and had not been transferred to other military units.
Sources: Weapons of the War in Ukraine
Role in the conflict
The RPK/RPK-74 family filled the infantry fire-support niche rather than a specialized anti-armor or indirect-fire role. The original RPK branch uses 7.62 x 39 mm ammunition, while the RPK-74 branch uses 5.45 x 39 mm ammunition and 45-round magazines in the AK-74 ammunition line.
CAR's Ukraine report treated the RPK and RPK-74 examples as part of a broader small-arms and light-weapons sample recovered from armed formations in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The report identified Vyatskie Polyany Machine-Building Plant Molot as the manufacturer of all four RPK-family weapons and listed manufacture years of 1970 for the RPK and 1981, 1985, and 1987 for the three RPK-74s.
The trace responses separate documented possession and recovery from a confirmed Ukrainian inventory origin. CAR reported that Russian authorities had not responded to its trace requests for the RPK and RPK-74 items at the time of publication, so the public report does not establish a complete transfer chain or identify individual operating units for these weapons.
Sources: Weapons of the War in Ukraine, RPK-74M, Kalashnikov RPK-74, Kalashnikov RPK
