Posted on 12/18/2023 6:47:27 AM PST by janetjanet998
KYIV/LONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Frontline Ukrainian troops face shortages of artillery shells and have scaled back some military operations because of a shortfall of foreign assistance, a senior army general told Reuters.
Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi was speaking after Republican lawmakers held up a $60-billion U.S. aid package and Hungary blocked 50 billion euros ($54.5 billion) in European Union funding for Kyiv as it battles Russia's invasion
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
There’s a problem with ammunition, especially post-Soviet (shells) - that’s 122 mm, 152 mm. And today these problems exist across the entire front line,” he said in an interview.
Tarnavskyi said the shortage of artillery shells was a “very big problem” and the drop in foreign military aid was having an impact on the battlefield.
Ukraine is firing a month’s worth of supply every 10 days. Talk about “unsustainable.
“To date, the US has provided Ukraine with over 2 million 155mm artillery rounds, according to the Pentagon. The Defense Department has set a goal of producing 70,000 artillery shells per month and is now producing just under 30,000 shells monthly”
“Ukrainian troops now typically fire between 2,000 and 3,000 artillery shells per day at Russian forces”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/18/politics/ukraine-critical-ammo-shortage-us-nato-grapple/index.html
Solution to ammo shortage....Aim Better!
We are watching two militaries degraded to 1917 wintertime warfare, perhaps probing attacks but nothing else to do until the flowers bloom and things can move on dirt farm roads, east germany had paved roads, Ukraine farm roads are insane bad. The western states saying we have 40,000k troops with a reasonably sized modern army air arm going to points west of Kiev on Feb1. I do believe apache squadrons to support our ally at an artificial line would bring a diplomatic solution neither side will like.
All goes back to obmanas red line that he forgot about.
When is the next offensive?
“When is the next offensive?”
Major preparations are likely delayed until the money is approved. A lot of the required timeline is likely slipping.
“Ukrainian troops now typically fire between 2,000 and 3,000 artillery shells per day at Russian forces”
That is a lean budget, but Ukrainian forces have been constrained like that for months at a time, earlier in the war.
That Soviet caliber ammo (122 and 152) is probably going to require new manufacture, in Ukraine or Eastern Europe, that doesn’t seem likely to surge in the near term - just a continued slow flow. Western 155mm production is further down the road in ramping up production, and there are still significant old stocks that could be rotated out of inventory.
The world’s most powerful militaries in 2023, ranked
https://news.yahoo.com/worlds-most-powerful-militaries-2023-110100781.html
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