{"id":19164,"date":"2024-04-05T14:37:58","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T14:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/05\/dwindling-ammunition-stocks-pose-grave-threat-to-ukraine\/"},"modified":"2024-04-05T14:37:58","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T14:37:58","slug":"dwindling-ammunition-stocks-pose-grave-threat-to-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/05\/dwindling-ammunition-stocks-pose-grave-threat-to-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Dwindling Ammunition Stocks Pose Grave Threat to Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/07\/multimedia\/07ukraine-ammo-01-whmf\/07ukraine-ammo-01-whmf-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Dwindling Ammunition Stocks Pose Grave Threat to Ukraine\" title=\"Dwindling Ammunition Stocks Pose Grave Threat to Ukraine\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The crew at an artillery position in eastern Ukraine had 33 shells in its ammunition bunker, stacked neatly like firewood against a wall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then came an order to fire. Twenty minutes later, smoke wafted around a howitzer and 17 shells were gone \u2014 more than half the crew\u2019s ammunition. The rapidly depleted stack was emblematic of Ukraine\u2019s dwindling supply of artillery munitions, even as Russian attacks persist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cArtillery decides battles,\u201d said Capt. Vladyslav Slominsky, the artillery commander along this section of the front. \u201cWho has more wins.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For now, that is Russia, as Ukrainian soldiers are reaching for some of the last ammunition for some types of weapons after months of delays in the U.S. Congress over a fresh round of military and financial assistance. There are signs that the logjam may be breaking, as Speaker Mike Johnson this week laid out potential conditions for bringing the measure up for a vote that it is expected to pass despite opposition from many conservative Republicans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The shortfall comes as Ukraine is on the defensive along the 600-mile front line in eastern Ukraine and is building additional fortifications, such as bunkers, trenches and minefields. Artillery ammunition is needed to hold the line until the defensive fortifications are completed and an expected Russian offensive gets underway this summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Russia has had an artillery advantage throughout the war, but that edge diminished for a time last year. Estimates vary, but analysts and Ukrainian officials say Russia is now firing at least five times as many artillery rounds as Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou cannot expect people to fight without ammunition,\u201d Johan Norberg, a military analyst at the Swedish Defense Research Agency, said in a telephone interview. \u201cThat\u2019s a basic point.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ukraine\u2019s largest single supplier of ammunition was the United States until the latest round of military assistance stalled in Congress. Representative Mike Turner of Ohio, a Republican who is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told CBS News over the weekend that American military and intelligence officials had made it clear Ukraine could not hold out much longer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe are at a critical juncture on the ground that is beginning to be able to impact not only the morale of the Ukrainians that are fighting but also their ability to fight,\u201d Mr. Turner said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On the front lines in Ukraine, they call it the \u201cshell hunger,\u201d a desperate shortage of munitions that is warping tactics and the types of weapons employed. It is not just the overall lack of ammunition that is so damaging but also an imbalance in the kinds on hand.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A year ago, for example, Ukraine lobbied the United States to supply cluster munitions, often criticized for scattering unexploded bomblets that pose a threat to civilians. As a result, it now has a relative abundance of cluster munitions that are effective against infantry but few of the high-explosive shells that could be more effective against advancing Russian tanks and other armored vehicles, military analysts and Ukrainian soldiers have said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A shortage of mortar shells that cost about $1,000 each has forced commanders to turn to heavier artillery shells that are in short supply and, at $3,000, far more expensive. And Ukraine has more NATO-caliber shells than Soviet-caliber ones, even as it still fields more Soviet-legacy guns than newly provided Western models. And the heavy reliance on the Western howitzers has sent many back to the repair shop when they are badly needed on the front.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Russian military, for its part, has developed relatively effective tactics for storming trench lines in the absence of heavy artillery from the Ukrainian side, pushing forward using large artillery bombardments of its own, human wave attacks with convicts and aviation bombs that can be released while planes are out of range of Ukrainian air defenses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ahead of the expected offensive, Russia has replenished its ranks with recruits and conscripts without resorting to a mass mobilization that might prove destabilizing, as was the case in the fall of 2022. And President Vladimir V. Putin has cast a stage-managed presidential vote as a popular endorsement of the war, while suggesting without evidence that Ukraine played a role in a terrorist attack on a concert hall in Moscow, stirring anger at Ukrainians.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">By last week, Russian forces had advanced toward a key line of trenches and bunkers to the west of the town of Avdiivka, which Russia captured in February. Over the weekend, Russian forces staged one of their largest ground assaults in months on Ukrainian positions in that area, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington group that closely tracks developments in the conflict.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Forced to cope with what they have, Ukrainian gun crews have to be fast and judicious in their expenditure of shells. When Russian soldiers break cover to attack, Ukrainian gunners have little time to lose.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One recent morning, around 5 a.m., a call came to a crew firing cluster munitions. Soldiers threw on body armor and helmets, raced to their howitzer and set about firing. Two soldiers ran between the ammunition bunker and the gun, hauling the shells.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cNew target,\u201d a commander\u2019s voice crackled over the radio, rattling off coordinates. The soldiers twirled wheels on the howitzer to adjust the aim and then fired more rounds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cFire now!\u201d the radio crackled at one point.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Russian forces were assaulting a frontline position about five miles away. If another such assault had come, the gun crew would have been out of ammunition until new supplies arrived.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The crew commander, Sgt. Oleksandr Andriyenko, said he received 20 shells a day at his position, compared with 80 shells last summer, when Ukraine mounted a counteroffensive that failed even with relatively abundant supplies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine told CBS News in an interview last month that his country was not prepared for a summer offensive by Russia and that the Russian military might reopen a northern front in the war with a ground attack into the Sumy region, which shares a border with Russia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If the aid package clears Congress, however, the Ukrainian military can count on a fresh infusion of shells. Otherwise, its best hope for artillery ammunition is an initiative by the Czech government to buy shells on the global weapons market and donate them to Ukraine. European countries have little left to offer from their depleted stocks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">About 20 countries are contributing to a common fund for the purchases, the Czech president, Petr Pavel, said, adding that his government had found half a million 155-millimeter shells and 300,000 122-millimeter shells available for purchase outside of Europe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The first deliveries are expected in June, but the program has already paid dividends, Czech officials say: Knowing that more ammunition is on the way, Ukrainian artillery forces are able to dip deeper into reserves, they said, adding that the same would be true if U.S. aid resumed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At home, Ukraine is stepping up its own efforts to produce artillery shells under programs shrouded in secrecy, lest the locations become targets for Russian missiles. But <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/02\/us\/politics\/ukraines-war-weapons-industry-russia.html\" title=\"\">production has not yet started<\/a>, Ukrainian officials say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Maria Varenikova contributed reporting from Kurakhove, Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/05\/world\/europe\/ukraine-ammunition-shells-russia.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The crew at an artillery position in eastern Ukraine had 33 shells in its ammunition bunker, stacked neatly like firewood against a wall. Then came an order to fire. Twenty minutes later, smoke wafted around a howitzer and 17 shells were gone \u2014 more than half the crew\u2019s ammunition. The rapidly depleted stack was emblematic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/07\/multimedia\/07ukraine-ammo-01-whmf\/07ukraine-ammo-01-whmf-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[24662,24661,22440,2695,6789,2888,1130],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19164"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19164"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19164\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19166,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19164\/revisions\/19166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}