Ukraine has informed its allies that it is facing a "critical" shortage of artillery shells as Russia uses three times more munitions daily on the front lines, according to a letter from Ukraine's Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov to European Union colleagues
This was reported by Bloomberg.
Umerov described in the letter the immense numerical advantage Ukrainian forces face while trying to repel new Russian attacks. He noted that Ukraine is unable to produce more than 2,000 shells per day along the 1,500-kilometer front line, which is less than a third of the ammunition used by Russia.
The shortage of weaponry in Ukraine is increasing every day, and Umerov urged EU allies to do more to fulfill their promise to provide a million artillery shells. He stated that Ukraine needs to at least match the firepower deployed by the enemy.
“The side that has more ammunition for combat usually wins”, Bloomberg quoted Umerov’s letter.
On Wednesday, the EU acknowledged that by March 1, it would only be able to provide half of the promised shells, pledging to deliver nearly 600,000 units by the end of the year.
According to the document, Ukraine needs 200,000 155mm shells per month. Estonia’s estimate suggests that Moscow may receive almost twice as many, as about a million shells are coming from North Korea.
During the defense ministers’ meeting on Wednesday, the EU claimed it would have the capacity to produce 1 million shells per year and aims to double this capacity to 2 million by 2025.
The report added that the United States is also increasing ammunition production to assist Ukraine in meeting its needs. Recall that representatives of the European Union announced that they would not be able to provide the promised one million shells to Ukraine by March 1, 2024. By this time, EU countries will only accumulate 600,000 ammunition.
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