Ukraine is no longer low on artillery ammo because Russia abandoned so much in recent retreats

[RAB910]

Ammunition left behind by fleeing Russian troops is filling Ukraine's depleted reserves and powering its counter-offensive, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Russia's hurried retreat from Kharkiv in early September saw soldiers abandoning a mass of hardware, including tanks, other armored vehicles and howitzers.

They also left behind huge quantities of Soviet-caliber artillery shells, the paper reported.

...

Much of Ukraine's military arsenal is Russian or Soviet equipment, making it hard for them to replenish stocks.

In March, western officials reported that Ukrainian troops in Mariupol were resupplying by stealing ammo from Russian soldiers.

By June, Vitaly Kim, the governor of the southern region of Mykolaiv, said "we are out of ammo," Voice of America reported.

The US depleted its own reserves of some ammunition in supplying Ukraine, with levels of 155 mm ammunition becoming "uncomfortably low," as one unnamed defense official told the WSJ in late August.

But this has begun to change since Ukraine's lightning-fast counter-offensive in September. As its soldiers recaptured huge swathes of territory in the northeastern Kharkiv region, Russians dropped their guns and abandoned tanks.

https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-ends-artillery-shortage-by-taking-from-fleeing-russians-wsj-2022-10?international=true&r=US&IR=T

[Xipe Totec]

1. If I need a gun I'll take it from you - Mike Ehrmantraut

[padah513]

2. Lol man that never gets old

Mike was a beast

[4139]

3. 😂

[fanfanois]

4. Kick

[Just A Box Of Rain]

5. The article creates somewhat of a misimpression when it claims that the Ukrainians were low on ammo.

Yes, the supplies of Soviet/Russian ordinance has been dwindling, but we and our allies have been providing UKR with Nato standard 155mm artillery and those shells are not running low.

These captured shells are a positive, as they won't be used against Ukraine and they allow UKR forces to use their older Russian/Soviet artillery pieces, but the impression that UKR is otherwise running out of ammunition is a stretch.

[RAB910]

6. Did you read that the US is running low on 155 mm ammo?

[Just A Box Of Rain]

7. "The Pentagon denied reports on Monday that its weapons stockpiles were running low

after reports suggested that US aid to Ukraine was putting a dent in Washington’s military readiness.

“We are able to provide what we have and still maintain our readiness as a military force,” a senior US military official said.

Speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, the official said the US constantly studies its preparedness and priorities before agreeing to supply another nation with weapons.

The US has given Ukraine hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammo for various weapons, including 155mm ammunition for Howitzers. But a Pentagon official was quoted as telling the Wall Street Journal that the US’s 155mm ammo supply had become “uncomfortably low.”

“It is not at the level we would like to go into combat,” the official told WSJ.

But a former senior US official told Al Arabiya English that the idea of the US running short of 155mm shells was “absurd.”

“The war stocks in US units are huge,” the former official said.

https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2022/08/29/Pentagon-denies-reports-of-depleting-stockpiles-amid-Ukraine-aid

[RAB910]

9. I am not sure how much I am buying of this claim

this article is rather interesting

https://eurasiantimes.com/us-m777s-could-come-to-a-grinding-halt-in-ukraine-kiev/

[Just A Box Of Rain]

10. Repeating "might" a couple of times (w/o providing evidence) isn't that "interesting" to me.

[RAB910]

11. I think it's worth visiting what hasn't been said

What hasn't been said is if the US reduced the amount of 155 ammo it's supplying

What hasn't been said is if the US is meeting the Ukraine's demand for 155 ammo

Quoting some anonymous source from a publication I had never heard of before that everything is great doesn't cut it for me

[RussBLib]

8. Killing Russians with their own bullets

That's poetic.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

12. If we allow the Russian Republican party to take the House, aid to Ukraine will dry up.

Roe, Roe, Roe your vote
against theocracy!
Republicans revoke your rights
and kill democracy!

THESE are the races that will determine control of the House of Representatives:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217192221

Stick 'em up for a blue wave: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217078977

[ananda]

13. Wow, hoist by their own petard.

Kewl

[grantcart]

14. It's only fair to return it to them

[Angleae]

15. Pointy end first