Russia’s capacity to surpass Ukraine with artillery strikes on the battleground has considerably diminished to a mere 1.5 Russian shells for every Ukrainian round responded, according to Western officials.
This marks a stark contrast to the previous phase of the conflict, during which Russian forces discharged at least five times more artillery shells than Ukraine could muster, with ratios occasionally soaring even higher.
Western officials attribute this stabilization to a “wide range of factors”.
Among these factors are constraints in Russia’s manufacturing capabilities, challenges in transporting additional rounds to the frontlines via rail, and attacks by Ukrainian drones targeting key depots of Russian and North Korean ammunition within Russian territory.
Furthermore, they noted that Western ammunition supplies are significantly enhancing Ukraine’s arsenal.
Nevertheless, substantial stocks of Russian glide bombs seemingly compensate for the decline in the country’s superiority on the artillery front, as indicated by the Western officials.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Army could be ‘worn out in a year’
One official noted a “dramatic escalation in the use of Russian glide bombs on the frontline, yielding devastating results”.
They stated that Russian troops are still making territorial gains in Ukraine, albeit at a significant cost.
Read more:
How serious is the situation for Ukraine?
What might a peace agreement entail?
The Western officials reiterated previous Ukrainian assertions that Russia incurred over 2,000 troops lost, either killed or injured, in a single day last month while combating Ukraine – representing the highest casualty rate of the conflict.
Moscow has consistently rejected casualty figures from Ukraine and its allies.
The Kremlin refrains from publishing current figures, and Ukraine also maintains confidentiality regarding its losses.
One of the Western officials remarked that the statistics “illustrate the brutality of the frontline – remarkably reminiscent of the Somme”.
The Battle of the Somme in France was among the largest and most horrific battles of the First World War.
The Western official stated that Russian forces experienced 2,030 casualties on 28 November – “a new peak of warfare” and the first occurrence of the rate of fatalities and injuries surpassing the 2,000 threshold.
The official added that the average daily rate of Russian fatalities and injuries in Ukraine throughout November has exceeded 1,500 for the third consecutive month, with a mean of 1,523 personnel.
