Defense expert Peter Wijninga sees this request from Ukraine as a cry for help. “There are such insanely large numbers on it, the West can never meet that.” By comparison, Ukraine previously asked for 60 MLRS, or mobile missile installations, now there are 300. That amounts to about half of all MLRS available to the US.
In the short term, there is a threat of a major shortage of artillery ammunition for the Ukrainian army, Wijninga explains. The soldiers still use a lot of Russian ammunition for the originally Russian guns, but no ammunition of Western origin fits in this. “So soon they will have to put all those guns aside, because they have no ammunition for them.” This increases their dependence on western arms supplies even more.
wear and tear
Ukraine is in urgent need of more western howitzers and, above all, missile artillery for another reason. This rocket artillery has a longer range than the Russian artillery and that provides an important advantage on the battlefield. Especially since the battle in the Donbas is a war of wear and tear, where Russia has an advantage with its much larger stock of inaccurate guns and ammunition.
All eyes are now on the city of Severodonetsk, which had been heavily besieged for weeks. According to the governor of the Lugansk region, Ukrainian armed forces still control a small part of the city. Three important bridges are said to have been destroyed by Russian bombing.
This would mean that it would be very difficult for the Ukrainian military to leave the city westward, as well as for the approximately 500 civilians who have been hiding from the fighting:
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