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Analysis: A key withdrawal shows Ukraine doesn't have enough artillery to fight Russia
AP via Yahoo ^ | February 20th, 2024 | SAMYA KULLAB

Posted on 02/20/2024 6:47:11 PM PST by Mariner

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Dwindling ammunition threatens Ukraine’s hold on the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line under withering assault by Russian artillery. Defensive lines are in jeopardy.

Ukrainian forces withdrew from the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region on Saturday after daily Russian onslaughts from three directions for the last four months.

Avdiivka was a stronghold for Ukrainian positions deeper inside the country, away from Russia. A frontline city ever since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, the fortified settlement with a maze of trenches and tunnels served to protect important — less strengthened — logistical hubs further west.

Its seizure boosts Russian morale and confirms that the Kremlin’s troops are now setting the pace in the fight, to the dismay of Ukrainian forces who have managed only incremental gains since their counteroffensive last year.

CONGRESSIONAL INACTION...

DWINDLING SUPPLIES

The Associated Press interviewed over a dozen commanders, including heads of artillery units, in the war’s most intense combat zones in the weeks ahead of Avdiivka’s fall. They said shortages, which have always plagued Ukrainian forces since the full-scale invasion, grew acute last autumn.

Dwindling supplies of Western-supplied long-range artillery in particular means Ukrainian forces are inhibited from striking high-value targets deep behind Russian lines, where heavy equipment and personnel are accumulated.

For weeks, Ukrainian forces across the frontline have complained about critical shortages in ammunition, with some artillery batteries fighting with only 10 percent of supply they need. Desperate to economize shells, military leaders ordered units to fire at only precise targets. But commanders on the ground say this is barely enough to restrain their better supplied enemy. Concerns are growing that without military aid the fall of Avdiivka may be repeated in other parts of the frontline.

(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: kilkillkillforpeace; toobadsosad; ukraine
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A surprising amount of information in this article.

Good journalism.

1 posted on 02/20/2024 6:47:11 PM PST by Mariner
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To: Mariner

Then maybe they should surrender, sue for peace, and end the civil war?


2 posted on 02/20/2024 6:47:49 PM PST by Reno89519 (If Biden is mentally unfit to stand trial, he is mentally unfit to be president. He needs to resign.)
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To: Mariner

Directed Energy Devices....


3 posted on 02/20/2024 6:48:04 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: Mariner

“Good Journalism”

Actually the headline could have been better:

“A key Ukrainian withdrawal shows NATO doesn’t have NEARLY enough artillery to fight Russia”

Kind of stupid of the Neocons to start a war with Russia, yet never bothering to PREPARE for that war.


4 posted on 02/20/2024 6:49:48 PM PST by BobL (Trump gets my vote, even if I have to write him in; Millions of others will do the same)
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To: Mariner

More dead whites are needed for Khazaria 2: Diaspora Hub


5 posted on 02/20/2024 6:50:33 PM PST by EEGator
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To: Mariner

This article will REALLY get the Ukraine Cheerleaders panties in a wad:

https://www.rt.com/russia/592788-gays-welcome-putin-says/


6 posted on 02/20/2024 6:50:58 PM PST by BobL (Trump gets my vote, even if I have to write him in; Millions of others will do the same)
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To: Mariner

Sorry, I stopped caring about 60billion ago. My money and thousands of lives needlessly wasted. Sad.


7 posted on 02/20/2024 6:52:35 PM PST by The Louiswu (Pray for Peace in the world.)
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To: Mariner
Dwindling supplies of Western-supplied long-range artillery in particular means Ukrainian forces are inhibited from striking high-value targets deep behind Russian lines

America's fault!

8 posted on 02/20/2024 6:56:16 PM PST by bgill
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To: Mariner
They said shortages, which have always plagued Ukrainian forces since the full-scale invasion, grew acute last autumn.

Why did UAF batteries in Avdeyevka waste precious shells on spite shots at civilians in Donetsk City last month? Because Ukraine's incompetent colonels and its undisciplined army thought the civilians were more valuable targets than the advancing Russians.

9 posted on 02/20/2024 6:57:15 PM PST by Right_Wing_Madman
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To: Mariner

Well come on, all of you big strong men
Uncle Sam needs your help again
Got himself in some terrible pain
Way out yonder in the Ukraine
Put down your books and pick up a gun
We’re gonna have a whole lot of fun


10 posted on 02/20/2024 7:00:31 PM PST by webheart
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To: Right_Wing_Madman

Don’t know if it’s true, but in another thread a week or so ago, someone posted that Ukraine has fired more 155 shells than Patton used to beat the Germans in North Africa, implying that they had been wasting them.


11 posted on 02/20/2024 7:02:28 PM PST by BikerJoe
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To: Mariner

You know they blew through 2 million US supplied rounds before running out. Another problem not mentioned but very real is the life expectancy of those barrels. NATO does not have replacement artillery barrels to spare either.

“The gun could fire a 100 lb (45 kg) shell to a maximum range of 14 mi (23 km), with an estimated accuracy life of 1,500 rounds.”


12 posted on 02/20/2024 7:02:42 PM PST by hardspunned (Former DC GOP globalist stooge)
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To: Mariner

The current lack of munitions is not due to the bill not passing, it is due to past and current abysmal logistics, theft and lack of manufacturing capacity. America has been deindustrialized and it shows.


13 posted on 02/20/2024 7:03:17 PM PST by wildcard_redneck (He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.)
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To: Mariner

The “West” doesn’t have the shells to give and can’t make them in sufficient quantities.

The factories and tooling takes years to build with the first couple years of the “Special Military Operation” have been frittered away. Not so on the Russian side.


14 posted on 02/20/2024 7:04:45 PM PST by glorgau
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To: Mariner

The Russians aren’t just using artillery anymore, they are our dropping a huge amount of heavy bombs that make mincemeat out of their fortified bunkers. Yes, the Russian air force finally showed up.


15 posted on 02/20/2024 7:08:37 PM PST by Karl Spooner
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To: Mariner

Duh. After already losing at least 1/5th of the country it took this to figure that out? And more losses are to come.


16 posted on 02/20/2024 7:09:37 PM PST by mikey_hates_everything
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To: bgill

“America’s fault! “

They’ve been saying it all day.


17 posted on 02/20/2024 7:10:00 PM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: BobL
Kind of stupid of the Neocons to start a war with Russia, yet never bothering to PREPARE for that war

These are high verbal IQ people. They believe that words and action are the same, or that words are better.

They live inside a "narrative", and they believe that if they control the means of communication, that their "narrative" can become reality as long as all other narratives (what they now call "misinformation" can be blocked.

The battlefield is one place where the rubber meets the road. There are others - the operating room, the cockpit, a burning building, etc - but the people who brought you Ukraine don't go to any of those places.

18 posted on 02/20/2024 7:11:03 PM PST by Jim Noble (Assez de mensonges et de phrases)
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To: Karl Spooner

“Yes, the Russian air force finally showed up.”

We know somebody ordered them into the fight because they have lost 6 advanced aircraft in the last week or so.

They’re gonna have to take their knocks.


19 posted on 02/20/2024 7:13:24 PM PST by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
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To: Paladin2

Directed Energy Devices....

Like the Twin Towers?


20 posted on 02/20/2024 7:15:39 PM PST by Saintgermain
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