“If we use 10 shells, they send 50 back.” That is how one Ukrainian artillery gunner in Vovchansk, in the northeastern Kharkiv region, described the fight to The Telegraph in a report picked up by Business Insider in June 2024. Western ammunition had begun reaching his unit, he said, but it had not changed the balance.
The shells were arriving because American deliveries had restarted after a six-month hiatus, during which Republicans stalled further assistance. The United States is Ukraine’s single largest donor, even though Europe has given more in total, and soldiers felt its absence. Troops told reporters that this year they had to ration supplies and sometimes could not fire at targets they had already identified.
Wear is a second problem. “Even if we receive the shells, our artillery barrels are old and worn out,” the same gunner said.
Aid that comes in fits and starts
Ukraine has had military help from its allies since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022. But Russia is larger and has more resources, and Ukrainian units have often been outmatched. Allied governments argue over what to give and how much, so deliveries have arrived unevenly and front-line units have gone through stretches of shortage.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in April 2024 that Russia had ten times as many artillery shells as Ukraine.
Kharkiv is where the gap is being tested. Russia opened a new offensive there the month before the report, and the area became one of the most intense stretches of the front. Its closeness to the border lets Russian forces resupply and launch attacks with ease.
Weeks before it matters
Some new American weapons had already reached Ukrainian soldiers by early June, but getting supplies into the country takes time. The report said it was unclear how much aid was headed for troops in Kharkiv, or when it would arrive.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, warned that “Russian forces are attempting to make tactically and operationally significant gains before US military assistance arrives to Ukrainian forces at the frontline at scale.” It added that Western-provided weaponry “will take some time to have tactical to operational effect on the frontline.”
