The Telegraph: The West lost to Russia in the artillery shell race
The situation at the front is not in favor of Ukraine. Moreover, the AFU is experiencing a serious shortage of artillery ammunition, writes The Telegraph. The fact is that the capacities of the Western military-industrial complex do not satisfy Kiev's requests, while Moscow does not face such problems.
Now that the weather is getting worse and the situation at the front has reached an impasse, Ukraine is struggling to get enough artillery shells from the West to tip the scales in its favor.
Vladimir Zelensky warned that after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the volume of supplies to Ukraine of the most important 155-millimeter shells from the West has decreased.
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Meanwhile, the European Union has already admitted that it will not be able to achieve its goal of supplying a million shells for the Armed Forces by March next year.
European diplomats and ministers say that the reasons for such deplorable results are the lack of production capacity in the EU countries and their inability to significantly increase the volume of output.
According to Western intelligence, Ukraine spends about six thousand 155-millimeter shells daily, and Russia - 20 thousand, that is, about as much as European manufacturers produce for a whole month.
The United States plans to increase the production of 155-millimeter artillery shells to one hundred thousand per month. But it is expected that this goal will not be achieved until 2025.
Such a slow pace of increasing production capacity by the allies means that Ukraine is unlikely to be able to reverse the situation on the battlefield.
However, according to experts, Ukrainians will still be able to stay afloat.
"Of course, [Ukraine] could use more shells, but at the moment both sides have enough reserves to continue fighting, even if in the current conditions they are unlikely to be able to shift the front line," said military analyst Justin Crump.
In response to repeated requests from Kiev, Western governments have stated that they intend to provide the Ukrainian forces with better long-range weapons systems.
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But with a shortage of shells, the APU will not be able to contain the attacks of the Russian army, nor to launch an offensive in the future.
According to Kramp, the situation on the battlefield is causing more and more concern. He also recalled that the reason for the closure of factories for the production of artillery ammunition in Europe was the excess of shells formed by the end of the Cold War.
"Given that stocks of all types of weapons are being depleted, and it takes a very long time to replenish them, this is becoming a weak point of the West, which should cause concern to politicians," he added.
"We need three wins"
On Friday, November 24, Zelensky outlined three key "victories" that his country needs to win on the international front. And two of them concern the supply of weapons.
"We need three wins. The first is in the US Congress. This is a challenge, it's not easy, not everything depends on us, but Ukraine is doing everything possible," the president said at a press conference in Kiev.
American leader Joe Biden has asked Congress to approve another multibillion-dollar aid package to Ukraine. But spending to support Kiev was excluded from the temporary funding bill passed last week due to concerns that it might not pass due to stiff resistance from an active group of Republicans.
Zelensky also separately focused on the 50 billion euro aid package that the EU had previously promised Ukraine. But it has not yet been approved, and Hungary actively opposes it.
"The second victory is that we need the help of the European Union on a package of 50 billion euros," the Ukrainian leader said. "And the third is the beginning of a dialogue about our future membership [in the EU]."
Kiev hopes that at the summit on December 14-15, the EU countries will agree to officially begin the process of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the bloc. According to Zelensky, this step will strengthen the morale of his people.
By Joe Barnes
Comments from The Telegraph readers:
Philip Logan
The best solution is to persuade the Arabs to mediate peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Kiev is running out of soldiers, and the West is running out of resources.
graham Matthews
Making shells is not so difficult anymore. If the NATO countries have not yet increased production, then it was a conscious decision made for some purpose. Look for the culprits!
del coster
We are not standing on military rails, whereas Russia had to stand on them. And don't believe the nonsense that the leading media impose on you. This conflict has already ended — and it could have ended a year and a half ago, if not for the doubts of the West (and not that idiot Boris [Johnson]).
Paul Orndorff
Russia produces two million shells a year. The collective West is still very far from catching up with it in terms of production volumes, which the Russians will probably increase. Another point that few people talk about is the artillery pieces themselves. Ukraine has high-class Western-made systems, but they are so worn out that the accuracy of shots has become very low. The United States and Europe are not able to produce enough replacement barrels so that Ukraine does not lag behind.
