Ukrainian artillery reports 60-80% drop in firing rate due to ammunition shortage

Military Watch said that Ukrainian artillery units were forced to reduce their artillery shell use by 80 to 90 percent, to just 10 to 20 rounds per day. The standard is 50 rounds per day, and the highest rate used by Ukrainian artillery batteries was nearly 90 rounds per day, at a time when they received abundant Western aid, according to a Ukrainian soldier interviewed by the Washington Post.

A member of the Ukrainian army’s 148th Artillery Brigade, which uses Western-supplied 155mm howitzers, complained to Washington Post reporters about ammunition shortages: “ What can you do with 10 rounds a day? It’s barely enough to stop Russian attacks, let alone use artillery to attack their positions .”

Ukrainian soldiers have complained that Russian forces do not suffer from the same ammunition shortages. Another soldier noted that they are currently only given a limited amount of ammunition to use when attacking a specific target, while frontline units are “very tired” without support fire and under pressure from the enemy, which only complicates the problem.

“ You should have some kind of advantage in numbers, but the situation is only getting worse, we can't win a war based on trust alone ,” the soldier added.

The rate of ammunition spending in Ukraine far exceeds the production capacity of its Western backers. Meanwhile, efforts by Western intelligence agencies to find compatible Soviet-origin weapons to buy and provide aid to Ukraine have only met a small part of the demand. In addition, Ukraine’s own production of weapons and ammunition is insufficient to meet the needs of the battlefield, as production has been greatly reduced by the war.

On the other hand, Russian units have been constantly replenished with weapons and equipment, and the output of Russian defense factories has increased rapidly since the conflict broke out. Some Western sources also said that Russia has received additional support from some allies in terms of artillery shells and UAVs.

The shortage of ammunition in Ukraine is partly due to the US decision to redirect aid to Israel in early October, many of which were scheduled to be sent to Ukraine. In addition, the depletion of ammunition stocks in NATO member states has also created serious challenges, preventing many members of the bloc from providing additional support to Ukraine.

A Ukrainian soldier with 155 mm artillery shells.

The ammunition shortage first became apparent in late 2022, when Ukraine's surface-to-air missile network ran out of missiles and was unable to counter Russian missiles and aircraft.

Earlier this month, interviews with several members of the Ukrainian army’s elite mechanized brigade also corroborated the claims gathered by the Washington Post. Even if the funding were available, options for using it to buy weapons are limited, as supplies have dried up over the past two years.

At the same time, in the US Senate there are also many disagreements about continuing aid to Ukraine, which makes the situation for Ukraine even more difficult when their counterattack has not achieved results.

Le Hung (Source: Military Watch)

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