Sending A Message: Why Soldiers In Ukraine Write On Artillery Shells

Separatist fighters in an occupied part of Ukraine's Luhansk region prepare to fire propaganda-leaflet shells toward Ukrainian positions in March 2022.

The shells are scrawled with the messages “join the people’s militia of the LNR” and “Russians never give up.” LNR is the acronym used by a Moscow-backed separatist group in Ukraine that calls itself the Luhansk People's Republic.

A Ukrainian soldier loads a projectile into a recoilless gun near Bakhmut in February 2023. The propellant charge features the sarcastic message “Happy Soviet Army day! February 23.”

Iryna Rybakova, a media officer with the Ukrainian military told RFE/RL that such messaging -- which will be blasted into unreadable pieces -- is intended largely for social media consumption.

A Ukrainian soldier carries a shell with the message “for Kharkiv” toward a howitzer near Lyman, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region in August 2023. Kharkiv has been under near constant attack from Russian forces since the 2022 invasion was launched.

“The probability that the enemy will read it is low. That's why they are photographed and posted on social networks.” Rybakova says of customized projectiles. “This is more of a message for Ukrainian society than for the enemy.”

A Ukrainian fighter prepares to sign a round for an Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer in the Donetsk region in July 2023.

Rybakova says the messaging can also serve as a kind of morale-boosting way to vent. “Sometimes it’s just a curse for the enemy.” Often, she says, “people write the names of their dead brothers whom they hope to revenge with this shell.”

A Ukrainian artillery commander signs a shell in the Donetsk region on November 4 in memory of Valentyn Dikhtyar, a soldier and friend who was killed in action in March 2023.

“The more they want revenge, the bigger the shell they sign,” Rybakova says.

An artillery shell with the phrase “a letter for [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskiy” seen at a position of pro-Russian fighters in Ukraine’s Donetsk Region in October 2022.
 

A Russian TOS-1A rocket launcher captured by Ukraine fires toward Russian positions near Kreminna in the Luhansk region in July. The rocket pod is spray-painted with "Da Vinci", the code name of Ukrainian battalion commander Dmytro Kotsiubailo, who was killed in battle in March.

 

A wingtip of a Russian kamikaze drone that impacted Kyiv in October 2022 inscribed with the words “For Belgorod, and “for Lug (or Luch).” Russia’s Belgorod region was attacked during an incursion from Ukraine by anti-Kremlin militias in the spring of 2023, and has repeatedly been targeted by Kyiv. Lug/Luch may reference a Russian power plant in southern Belgorod that was damaged in a Ukrainian strike days before this drone was launched, or the site of a World War II battle between Soviet and Nazi forces.

Ukrainian soldiers sign a shell "for Kreminna." The eastern Ukrainian city has been fought over intensely since the early days of the 2022 Russian invasion.

Several Ukrainian websites offer to write custom messages on shells destined to be fired toward Russian positions for a fee. One site claims to have raised more than $1.5 million for the Ukrainian military since launching in 2022.

A shell with the American flag and the phrase “glory to Ukraine” seen in the Donetsk region on November 4.

Donors pay around $200 for their message to be written on large-caliber artillery rounds and receive a photo from the front lines of their customized shell.

Shells scrawled with messages, including, “from the residents of Bohuslav ‘with love,'” and “for Kharkiv.” One shell is signed “Lt. A Kravetz.”

A fighter with a Russia-backed separatist group in Donetsk prepares to write on a shell in June 2022.

One Russian commander was asked about the practice of writing messages on shells. "Of course, painting or writing on materiel is not officially permitted but how can I not allow it for guys whom I’m going into battle with?" he said.