High-tech Western weapons bring a challenge to Ukraine: How do they work?

Staring through the sight attached to an anti-tank gun camouflaged in netting and green underbrush, Junior Sgt. Dmytro Pysanka is greeted with a kaleidoscope of numbers and lines that, if read correctly, should give him the calculations needed to fire at approaching Russian forces.

Still, errors are common in the chaos of battle. To negate them, the commanders of Sgt. Pysanka’s artillery unit on the frontline in southern Ukraine secured a high-tech range finder, supplied by the West over a month ago, which uses laser technology to measure distances.

But there’s an issue: Nobody knows how to use it.

“It’s like being given an iPhone 13 and only being able to make phone calls,” said Sergeant Pysanka, clearly exasperated. Read more

@nytimes