https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-soldier-stopped-shooting-on-russians-running-out-of-ammo-2023-12?

Business Insider writes

A Ukrainian soldier says he stopped shelling small Russian units because he is running out of US-made artillery ammo

Lol

A Ukrainian soldier said he stopped shelling small Russian units because his brigade was running out of US-provided artillery ammunition, per The Times of London.

"When it's two or three soldiers, I'm not shooting any more; only when it's a critical situation, say, ten guys close to our infantry, we will work," Sergeant Taras "Fizruk" told the newspaper.

The 31-year-old mortar gunner said that he and his comrades from the 47th Mechanized Brigade "had ten times more ammunition over the summer." per the newspaper.

Real talk, when you got guys saying they're running low on mortar rounds you definitely know they're running dry on everything bigger than a mortar too.

"American rounds come in batches of almost identical weights, which makes it easier to correct fire, with very few duds. Now we have shells from all over the world with different qualities, and we only get 15 for three days. Last week, we got a batch full of duds," said the soldier.

The lack of shells, Fizruk said, has hampered his unit's control over the northern flank of Avdviivka in eastern Ukraine and their ability to shoot at Russian troops.

"We should be controlling our sector from 4km away, so we can kill a few hundred Russian soldiers before they get to our infantry, and we only take a few wounded," he told the newspaper, adding: "But without ammunition, we can't."

The US and NATO allies have struggled to keep up with Ukraine's demands for artillery shells and ammunition, with Western ammunition stockpiles depleting.

Read: US-NATO struggle to fight a modern war against an enemy that can actually fight back

Ukrainian forces have been burning through artillery shells and ammunition at a rate of about 7,000 rounds a day, according to figures from Estonia's defense ministry.

Imagine having to rely on the Ostonians

And Western supplies are now at the "bottom of the barrel," Admiral Rob Bauer of the Netherlands, who chairs NATO's Military Committee, said at a Warsaw Security Forum meeting in October.

"We need large volumes. The just-in-time, just-enough economy we built together in 30 years in our liberal economies is fine for a lot of things — but not the armed forces when there is a war ongoing," he said, per the BBC.

Muh invisible hands of the free market is choking the war effort

The issue has been compounded by Republicans in Congress, who are threatening to withhold crucial aid to Ukraine, including ammunition, a defining element in frontline combat.

Let's go legislative gridlock!

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, said that Congress' delay in providing aid to Ukraine would "very likely make it impossible to continue liberating territory and create a high risk of losing the war," per The New Voice of Ukraine.

Continuing liberating territory? What territory? Some shrubs and a few patchs of farmland doesn't constitute "territory"

Newly committed aid to Ukraine reached a "new low" between August and October, with a 90% drop compared to the same period in 2022, according to a report compiled by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

So you're saying it could be lower

The Kiel Institute, which has tracked aid promised and sent to Ukraine, said in an update on Thursday that while the new US aid package was delayed to next year, the EU's promise to supply one million rounds of ammunition has stalled.

Israel's war with Hamas could also divert tens of thousands of artillery rounds initially slated for Ukraine, Axios reported in October. Despite having German Leopard 2 tanks and American Bradley M1 fighting vehicles, Fizruk told The Times of London that his unit couldn't break through Russia's defensive lines without artillery shells.

Other than saying fuck Israel and the Israeli genocide force, I agree with Fizruk that artillery is indeed the king of the battlefield. May he reign Supreme over all other monarchs.

To make up for the shortfall, Fizruk told the newspaper that his unit is now using unarmed drones to scare Russian troops away and fundraising for weapons they can buy.

Fundraising? The fuck are they fundraising with? Bake sales? Threatening to conscript you in you don't fund the war effort?