March 20, 2023
A gallery on the current homepage of the New York Times includes this picture:
The picture's caption says:
Casiv Yar The 71st Separate Hunting Brigade of the Air Assault Forces firing a mortar at a Russian target.Tyler Hicks / The New York Times
Here is bigger version of the picture, slightly lightened, for more details.
That is a puny U.S. made M224 60 mm Lightweight Company Mortar System (LWCMS). It has an effective firing range of 70 to 3,490 meter.
This is the current map, based on 'western' sources, of the front line around Chasiv Yar.
Source: LiveUAMap - bigger
The distances shown on the map between Chasiv Yar and the front line are 5.3 and 5.9 kilometer, i.e. bigger than the maximum effective range of that mortar.
For whatever reason something is wrong. It could be the caption of the picture or it could be the lines on the map.
Nothing serious - just wanted to mark this as part of MoA's continuous media education campaign. Not everything is what it seems to be.
Reprinted with permission from Moon of Alabama.