In the battle for Donbas in the east – which has largely become an artillery duel between Russian and Ukrainian forces – Kyiv was until recently heavily reliant on Soviet-era ammunition that makes up a large part of its arsenal.
Now that ammunition is running desperately short, Ukraine is appealing to its allies to replace its artillery with systems that use NATO ammunition, but weaponry has been arriving slowly in comparison with Ukraine’s needs.
“This is an artillery war now,” Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, said some time ago.
“We are losing in terms of artillery,” he added. "Everything now depends on what the West gives us."
Skibitsky also said: “Ukraine has one artillery piece to 10 to 15 Russian artillery pieces. Our Western partners have given us about 10 percent of what they have.”
At the centre of the issue is the fact that US and NATO and Soviet-era artillery use different calibres of shell that are not interchangeable.
Halyna Pastushuk reports...
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