Russia's 'nightmare' is Ukraine's two best artillery weapons – which were 'gifted' to it by two European countries

Russia's 'nightmare' is the French Caesar and the Swedish Archer, two of the best artillery weapons the West has produced and both are in use by the Ukrainians who have been gifted them.

They are purpose-built for the kind of war the Ukrainians are fighting – where eyes are everywhere thanks to spy drones and where any vehicle in the wild risks being blown to pieces by a shell from these two best artillery weapons, the Telegraph reports.

These weapons are masters of a tactic known as 'shoot and retreat' – so deploying, firing and retreating again before the weapon is spotted and fired – and as a result they survive better than any other weapon in the Ukrainian arsenal.

Caesar can be deployed in 60 seconds, its five-man crew can unload three rounds of shells in 15 seconds, pack them up and then 'go away' in 40 seconds.

It can fire a 155 mm shell at a distance of 25 miles and carry up to 18 shells, the Telegraph reports.

Archer is even more impressive, taking just 20 seconds from start to finish and his three-man crew don't even have to leave the comfort of their air-conditioned cabin to do it.

The Swedish artillery gun can also carry up to 21 shells, three more than the Caesar, which can travel a distance of up to 30 miles.

The weapon is wrapped in Barracuda mesh, which is woven with special fibers that confuse night vision and thermal cameras and therefore make the Archer harder to spot.

In fact, both Caesar and Archer are so difficult to find and destroy that Russia has described them as a 'nightmare' to fight.

Daily Mail Foreign Correspondent Chris Pleasance examines footage of them in action in the latest episode of War on Tape, to show how these artillery weapons work, what 'shoot' means and why these weapons are so good. /Telegraph/