Ukrainian army cannot attack Russian military targets in sight and which she attacked months ago. The reason is terrifying: there are modern systems, but there is no ammunition for them, writes Business Insider, citing an American veteran who is currently fighting on the side of Ukraine as a volunteer.
He says that the shortage of ammunition in Ukraine is particularly affecting the US-made HIMARS systems, because now the ZSU are forced to miss targets of the Russian occupiers, which months ago they would have hit without a second thought.
The shortage of shells is causing Ukraine to be more selective, which gives an advantage to the much larger and better armed Russian army. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky himself said that today the ratio of artillery shells is 1:10 in favor of Russia. If Kiev does not urgently receive military aid from Washington in the amount of 60 billion dollars, it will be difficult to maintain its positions on the front.
Ukraine's insufficient supply of ammunition means its soldiers can't hit the targets they want, even with their most effective weapons, said veteran American sniper Jonathan Pockett. The HIMARS systems are extremely effective and inflict heavy damage on the occupiers, but currently the Ukrainians do not have missiles for them.
Reconnaissance pinpoints various targets such as artillery batteries and convoys of tanks and other combat vehicles, then feeds the information to the HIMARS operator. And here comes the big problem: he doesn't have the resources to attack all the targets, and he has to choose which ones are worth hitting. Last month, the US Congress approved $300 million in military aid, which included HIMARS missiles. But that money is already exhausted.
Ukraine is experiencing critical shortages of supplies, including ammunition for artillery and air defenses, as US Republicans block military aid. Earlier in the war, the Ukrainians would not have thought twice about attacking advancing Russian infantry. But now, due to the shortage of ammunition, if they saw a group of 3-4 Russian soldiers, they would say to themselves: “Is it worth wasting an artillery shell on them?”. Thus the war will be difficult to win.