Tag: Ukrainian National Guard

Vintage Weapons In a Modern War: The TT-33 Pistol In Ukraine

The fighting in Ukraine has seen a wide range of small arms in use ranging from the cutting edge to the antique. We’ve seen a number of older weapons like Mosin-Nagant rifles, M1910 Maxim machine guns and DP light machine guns in service with both sides. [We’ll take a look at those in future videso] The TT-33 pistol, a pistol which first entered service 90 years ago, is another older weapon which is again seeing action. The examples seen in theatre are likely a mix of privately owned firearms and pistols drawn from Ukrainian stores. 

Introduced in the mid-1930s to replace the 1895 Nagant revolver, over a million TTs have been produced. Designed by Fedor Tokarev the pistol became the Soviet Union’s primary side arm, seeing service during the Second World War alongside the Nagant. 

The TT-33 is a semi-automatic pistol, chambered in 7.62×25mm. It feeds from an 8 round single stack magazine and uses John Browning’s short recoil tilting-barrel action. The TT is an extremely robust pistol and remained in service well into the 1950s with the Red Army and continues in service around the world even today.  

A photo of a TT-33 shared by the TDF’s 127th Kharkiv Brigade (via social media)

Pistol use in general in the current conflict doesn’t appear to be prolific but a considerable number of combatants are frequently seen carrying side arms. Everything from Makarovs and Stetchkins to more modern Glocks and Ukrainian Fort handguns. Pistols are often carried by soldiers working in roles which frequently see them separated from their service rifle and by those who prefer to carry a secondary weapon.

While we’ve seen TT-33s in the hands of Russian and Ukrainian separatist troops in this video we’ll largely focus on Ukrainian use. At the fall of the Soviet Union a considerable amount of surplus small arms fell under Ukraine’s control, including substantial numbers of TT pistols. While not general issue it has been in service with the Ukrainian Army, National Guard and the Border Guard Service. This video definitely isn’t an exhaustive survey of TT use in Ukraine but lets take a look at some examples:

At the start of April 2022 the training department of the command headquarters of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces have published a number of high quality videos showing how to disassemble and clean the TT.

The Ukrainian YouTube channel, Boys from the Forest (ХЛОПЦІ З ЛІСУ) shared a video looking at the TT in May 2022. They concluded their video by shooting a block of explosive reactive armour with the pistol – to no effect. In June Alina Mykhailova, a medic with 1st separate mechanised battalion “Da Vinci Wolves” shared a photo of some firearms used by the unit, including amongst other things – a TT pistol.

A photo of a TT-33 shared by an International Legion volunteer (via social media)

In around August some members of a TDF unit posed with a Nestor Makhno banner and a DP light machine gun and a TT-33 pistol. A Russian news report from around Soledar, published on 5 August, featured an interview with a soldier carrying a TT in a front pouch of his load bearing equipment. On the 12 August a Ukrainian operator shared a couple of photos of his side arm, a 1945-dated, Izhevsk manufactured TT-33 with wooden grips. Date and location they were taken wasn’t shared.  

In an interesting video posted around the 25 August, a TT-33 is used to test some captured Russian steel plate. Yurii Kochevenko, an officer of the 95th Air Assault Brigade, shoots a one of the plates point black with TT he carries in a webbing holster. The 7.62x25mm round doesn’t cleanly penetrate the plate but appears to impart enough force to crack the metal.

At the end of November the Military Institute at the National University in Kyiv shared photos of cadets taking part in a shooting championship using TT pistols.

On 30 December, the 247th Separate Battalion of the TDF’s 127th Kharkiv Brigade shared a photo of Vitaly, a member of the battalion, armed with an AK-74 and on his plate carrier he has a TT in a Cytac holster. These tactical holsters for the 90 year old pistol retail for around 780 Hryvnia. On the same day Ukrainian personnel shared an update video from their position in Bakhmut, one of them is carrying a TT on his plate carrier.

A TDF officer, call sign Witch, has been seen numerous times carrying a TT-33 as her sidearm. Videos posted to her TikTok on 24 December and 12 January show it in a holster on her plate carrier, with a coil lanyard fitted. A video shared by the TDF Public Relations Service on 19 February also gives us a good look at the TT carried by Witch.

Ukrainian marksman position with a rotary grenade launcher, a UAR-10 and a TT pistol (via social media)

On 26 February 2023, the TDF’s 127th Kharkiv Brigade shared a gallery of photographs featuring the TT on their instagram page. The caption notes that: “Despite the fact that this pistol was actively used even during the Second World War, it is simple in design, reliable in operation, small in size, comfortable to carry and always ready to defeat the Russian invaders.”

A Ukrainian special operations unit shared a photo of a member of the unit sat beside a Russian prisoner while holding two TT-33 pistols, one in its original finish and the other was a camouflage paint job. Most recently at the start of March a Ukrainian marksman active around Bakhmut shared a photo of his position with a rotary grenade launcher, a UAR-10 and a TT pistol.

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Bibliography:

The Procedure for Partial Disassembly and Assembly of a TT pistol, TDF, (source)  

Rules for cleaning and lubricating weapons on the example of a TT pistol, TDF, (source)  

Ukrainian Tavors – Fort-221 / Fort-224

In this video/article we’ll examine Ukraine’s other bullpup – the Fort-221 – the Ukrainian Tavor. 

In a recent video/article we looked at the Ukrainian designed and produced IPI Vulcan, a bullpup based on the AK platform, and the two have been confused in some media. The Fort-22 series Tavors originate from Israel’s IWI. Introduced in the early 2000s the IWI Tavor has been purchased and seen service with militaries around the world. Ukraine’s Tavors were offered by RPC Fort or State Research and Production Association “Fort” of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs. The company was originally established in 1991, initially as a regional organisation and in 1998 it became a state enterprise. Located in Vinnytsia, in western Ukraine, the company initially focused on a line of pistols, pump-action shotguns and AKM variants.  

National Guard personnel armed with Fort-221 with M5 optics (Ukrainian National Guard)

From a survey of Fort’s website we know that IWI weapons first began to appear in the company’s product lists in late 2008 following an agreement to potentially license manufacture IWI products in Ukraine. This included pistols, submachine guns, rifles and the Negev light machine gun. 

In 2011-12 media reports suggested the Tavor was being produced in Ukraine and the guns appeared at a number of trade shows with RPC-Fort markings, including a company crest in the moulded stock. There is, however, some doubt about whether the weapons were manufactured in Ukraine, merely assembled or if they were produced in Israel with some Fort markings and shipped to Ukraine. The nature of the partnership is undisclosed but it has been suggested that if Fort gained substantial sales for the weapons then further manufacturer may have been transferred to Ukraine. 

Close up of the RPC Fort on a 5.56×45mm Fort-221 (Ukrainian National Guard)

In 2014, Colonel Vitaly Otamaniuk, the head of the artillery and missile management board of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, announced that the Fort-221 and Fort-223/224 carbines were adopted for arming the Ukrainian army, with an initial 500 ordered. While no further orders were publicly recorded we know that Police and internal security forces were issued the rifle as of 2016. The adoption of the rifles by Ministry of Internal Affairs units and the Ukrainian National Guard (which falls under the Ministry’s control) may be explained by the fact the Ministry owns RPC Fort.

Various Fort-22 series rifles on display (Ukrainian National Guard)

From photographs released before the February invasion we know that National Guard units including the Special Purpose units like the “Scorpion” Special Forces Detachment (Nuclear industry protection) and elements of the Special Operations Forces or SSO. These units are believed to include the 1st and 3rd Special Purpose Detachments based in Kyiv and the 8th Special Purpose Regiment in Khmelnytskyi as well as elements of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Member of the Ukrainian armed forces with a Fort-224 carbine (via social media)

There is some confusion around the Fort-22 series’ designations. From Fort’s website, circa 2020, we can see here that the majority of the IWI rifle range was on offer. There is some confusion around the designations with Fort-222 and Fort-223 not being listed here but there are photographs of Fort-223 marked 5.56  X-95 pattern guns seen trade shows, which suggests that for a time at least the 223 designation was used. But as we’ve seen from Fort’s 2010 website Fort-223s were not listed. The Tavors are listed as follows:

  • Fort-221 in 5.56x45mm and 5.45x39mm (TAR-21) – 468mm / 18.4in
  • Fort-224 in 5.56×45 and 5.45x39mm (X-95) – 330mm / 13in
  • Fort-224 in 9×19 (X-95 SMG) – 330mm / 13in

We can also see that the Uzi Pro is listed as the Fort-226 while the 5.56x45mm Galil Ace is listed as the Fort-227, the 7.62x39mm chambered version is the Fort-228 and the 7.62x51mm version is the Fort-229. The Ukrainians designed the Galatz accurised Galil the Fort-301 and the Negev light machine gun the Fort-401 both of which have been fleetingly seen in the field.

Further survey of Fort’s website shows that the Tavor series of rifles ceased to be listed on the page in March 2021 and IWI and Meprolight were removed from the site’s ‘Partners’ section in April 2021. Perhaps suggesting the end of the IWI-Fort partnership. The Tavor-pattern rifles are not listed by SpetsTechnoExport, Ukraine’s state export enterprise, but the IPI Vulcan is.

Member of the Ukrainian armed forces with a Fort-221 rifle (via social media)

Despite this we have seen a considerable number of the Ukrainian Tavor variants in the field. Since the Russian invasion in February the Fort-22 series have been most frequently seen with internal security forces and Ukrainian Army and National Guard special forces.

Within 48  hours of the Russian offensive Russian forces shared videos from what was said to be a captured Ukrainian National Guard depot. The video shows more than a dozen Fort-221s piled on top of crates. Around the same time they were seen to be equipping Ukrainian forces said to be linked to the Azov Brigade. 

Members of the Ukrainian armed forces with a Fort-224 carbines (via social media)

On 7 March former Ukrainian presidents Petro Porochenko and Oleksandr Turchynov were seen. Rallying Territorial Defence Force units in Kyiv, Turchynov was seen armed with a Fort-221.

On 9 March an unknown number were captured by Russian forces which seized the National Guard armoury near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant. At least one Fort-221 was shown by Russian state media.

A Fort-224 in 9×19mm (via social media)

The Ukrainian Tavors continue to surface in imagery from the conflict but it is difficult to tell where they’re being used and by which units. 

Both the Fort-221 rifle and the 224 carbine have been seen in the field, though it is often difficult to determine their chambering as the clearest indiction – the shape of the magazine – is invariably tucked under the user’s arm.  They are most often seen equipped with Meprolight M5 and M21 sights and a number of the weapons have also been seen to be sporting camouflage paint jobs.  

Thank you to those who have helped me collect images of the Ukrainian Tavors in the field, including Sad_Sand and DixieMauser and thank you also to Remigiusz Wilk.

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Bibliography

Interpolitex 2011, Vitaly Kuzmin, (source)

Ukraine Manufacturing Tavor in 5.45x39mm, TFB, (source)

Shield and Sword of Ukraine: Main Achievements of thr Defense Industrial Complex for 2017, Defense Express, (source)

Fort.vn.ua, via WayBack Machine, (source)

Kyiv Police being introduced to 9x19mm Fort-224 carbines in 2016, Kyiv Police, (source)