With Russia outgunning Ukraine’s artillery at an estimated 15-1 it looks like the main tool for halting Russia’s advance is about to start running at marginal effectiveness. Ukraine’s main industrial hubs are either already occupied, have incredibly difficult issues with supply lines, or have sustained physical damage, and artillery has been one of Ukraine’s most effective tools at slowing the Russian advance. The fact that Ukraine is simply using this ammunition faster than the west is willing to donate and faster than Ukraine’s domestic production can keep up with does not bode well for their ability to mount a meaningful defense for much longer. The last aid package passed by the US bought Ukraine only about 2 weeks worth of artillery shells.

read the article here

  • 20000bannedposters [love/loves]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Who would have thought going to war with the country that produces your ammo would have been a bad idea.

  • FlakesBongler [they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    :biden-harbinger: This is why we need to spend another $400 billion to save our Ukrainian Jacks from Cornpop

    • Leper_Messiah [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Shit, they're still doing that! Just today they sent more shells/rockets into Donetsk, and that hasn't been an isolated thing either; i think the last 3 or 4 days have had Ukraine shelling civilian areas (mostly in and around Donetsk) well behind the actual front lines

      If they were so worried about running out, maybe they should only use what they have left on soldiers ffs

    • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
      ·
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      I remember :reddit-logo: claiming Ukraine would be invading Russia by now.

      Pure Bazinga Brain

  • plov_mix [comrade/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Last time I checked they said Russia was running out of missiles, ammunitions, artillery, gasoline, and natural gas?! What changed?!

    • Tervell [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Putin used Marxist-Leninist black magic to summon more ammunition out of the void

        • Vncredleader
          ·
          2 years ago

          Honest question; why does Ukraine not have a similar capacity RN? Did they really privatize that much more than Russia, I know they still had Soviet aircraft factories recently cause China had to make deals with them as the only means to get engines for their planes

          • KoeRhee [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            They've been either bombed out (because it's hard to keep the locations of these factories secret) or captured (most of these industrial facilities were in the east anyway)

              • Frank [he/him, he/him]
                ·
                2 years ago

                And Moscow was going nuts with targeted missile strikes for weeks on end during the start of the conflict.

          • Tankiedesantski [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            The break up of the Soviet Union meant that lots of supply chains were disrupted and never rebuilt. For example the Russians basically mothballed their T-64 fleet because most of the factories that built them were in Ukraine. Similarly, the Russian navy has difficulty keeping their only carrier running because a lot of the shipyard infrastructure was in Ukraine.

            That said, Russia was the largest post Soviet state and the most developed, so the lion's share of the arms industry was still in Russian borders. This allowed them to maintain more old surplus and develop new weapons.

            Ukraine was and is much poorer than Russia (grain being somewhat less valuable than oil and gas as an export) and never really developed a fully independent domestic arms industry.

  • Mardoniush [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Imagine running out of Soviet-Era ammo. Literal mountains of the stuff existed in Ukraine alone. As in, the Soviets decided to hollow out a mountain and cram it full of ammo, just in case.

    I knew they had supply issues in the east since their primary route is now open to direct fire from Russia, and I'd thought they'd have material issues, but the fact they've run out is making me downgrade the effectiveness of their forces (which are supposed to be very effective at drone aided strikes)

    Additionally, this may also mean the Russians have severely degraded their industrial capacity.

    • Torenico [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      It appears that precision strikes with Iskanders and Kalibr have done their part, let us remember that in the first weeks the Russians pretty much blew up ammo depot after ammo depot, almost on a daily basis.

    • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      The areas that have been captured in eastern Ukraine account for a large part of productive ability as well

  • Z_Poster365 [none/use name]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Ukraine: Russia outguns us 15:1

    Also Ukraine: NATO has only given us 10% of their artillery, give us more!

    Check my math here folks but it sounds like Russia’s current battle group in Ukraine (just a fraction of Russia’s total equipment) could outgun all of NATO combined? Staggering admission of weakness if true

    • kristina [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Russia: wait NATO is 3 kids in a trench coat? God damnit Gorbachev

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Russia saying "Fuck it" and steamrolling to the Atlantic would be the funniest thing for 2023.

        • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          :stalin-approval:

          Worth remembering that the original intent of NATO at its inception was to keep Germany from re-arming. Consequently, much of Central Europe has functionally been US occupied territory since the 40s. Europe was never supposed to be able to re-arm itself. It was supposed to be reliant on America forever

      • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        To add to this, some of the decent militaries are also very small and designed to really to only be able to prosecute war while combined with the larger forces like Germany, France, and Britain. I have no doubt that the Austrian military is fairly competent and modernly equipped but as per wikipedia (grain of salt, I know) they only have 22,050 active and 160,000 reservists. Such an army would be deeply reliant on allied nations for air cover and intel.

  • NoEyed [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    If it's Soviet-era ammunition maybe they can hit up Russia and see if they have any spare rounds lying around.

  • Awoo [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    This is actually very serious for Ukraine.

    Artillery is the only thing that is currently holding the Russians back. The Russians do not have enough counter-artillery systems to identify the source location of artillery and take it out which has been the primary thing impeding their progress.

    It doesn't matter how many men you have, it is impossible to advance through artillery fire without incredible losses. Since they're unwilling to take those losses because they're not insane they retreat when they come under artillery fire during advances.

    When they no longer have access to their artillery they are essentially fucked. Aside from the ideologically insane nazis the majority of the Ukrainians break and run or surrender in infantry to infantry combat.

      • Awoo [she/her]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        They have access but they haven't deployed anywhere near enough. When I say they don't have it, I mean the troops on the ground do not have it.

        • 20000bannedposters [love/loves]
          ·
          2 years ago

          The troops are mostly dpr lpr. And Russia seems extremely reluctant to use the tech it has to make advances. Maybe they don't want the west getting intell on them. I don't know

          • Awoo [she/her]
            ·
            2 years ago

            I think Russia feels this won't be the only war supported by weapons from the west so they need to be careful. There may be others, with better plans and better equipment.

            • 20000bannedposters [love/loves]
              ·
              2 years ago

              I was watching a lot of mic content last month.

              Russia has passed the usa in many aspects.

              But I'm sure they don't want the usa to figure out it's weaknesses also

    • CoolerOpposide [none/use name]
      hexagon
      ·
      2 years ago

      Yeah if the reports are to be believed and Ukraine is going to have to throttle it’s artillery use they basically either have to pick where they are ok with letting Russia advance or significantly reduce their ability to resist Russian forces across the entire front

  • TankieTanuki [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    This just in Congress approves fifty jillion dollars to purchase NATO artillery for Ukraine. Now they can buy American ammunition. :porky-happy:

      • TankieTanuki [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        If Russia blows up the artillery en route the defense contractors still got paid.

    • Quimby [any, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      apparently spent in 2 weeks?? wtf? something doesn't add up here... Russia supposedly outguns them 15:1. But Russia's military budget definitely isn't $150 billion per month. So....

      • Tervell [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I'm guessing Western equipment is a lot more expensive per piece - the MIC grifters need to make their money somehow. The F35 is the most famous example, but it's hardly the only one - probably mostly everything costs way more than it should.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Forty billion dollars sounds like a lot but it's going in to a lot of pockets and many of those pockets don't keep open books.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I dunno Americans seem to be bored of the war and there's about to be a goddamn political massacre when the SCOTUS issues it's huge slate of decisions in three days. the US might just get bored and forget about Ukraine. Or go so cool-zone in the wake of the SCOTUS repealing the right to breath that it doesn't matter.

    • SoyViking [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Roughly 150 dollars for every man, woman and child back home in the US.

  • serniebanders [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    on the one hand they've been saying this about russia since the beginning on the other hand is this a ploy for even more funding?

    • ThisMachinePostsHog [they/them, he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      That was my thought. "Ukraine is almost out of ammo because the West only approved a measley two weeks' worth. They'll fail without us giving them more money and munitions!"

      • UlyssesT [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Orwell was a liberal reactionary chud, of course, but his talk in :1984: about how expending human labor with endless warfare was a reliable means to stabilize class hierarchy by removing surplus and keeping everyone precarious enough to never think about revolution may well apply here.

        No money for citizens! Only war! :only-throw:

  • Diogenes_Barrel [love/loves]
    ·
    2 years ago

    dumb question but is Russia advancing? they've been awful static on the megathread map, and mostly secured modest goals.

      • Diogenes_Barrel [love/loves]
        ·
        2 years ago

        looking at the map closer and with this context im.wondering why we're not talking about a desperate ukrainian retreat... are they not trying to withdraw?

    • Ideology [she/her]
      ·
      2 years ago

      It's subtle, but there's little bumps around the western border of Donbass where the front line is starting to enclose the main bulk of the Ukranian front lines. If they manage to encircle those armies it's basically game over.