How do I start an artillery shell manufacturing company? Not how do I make them, how do I get a contract without producing one and how can I start producing them without legal authority? How do I get that authority?

Maybe if certain NATO countries like Germany, Canada, and France listened to Trump, Obama, or Bush and actually put 2% into defense spending it wouldn't be this bad. They are three of the largest economies in NATO, and have been coasting for decades on appropriate spending.

Why would they need production capacity to produce a product that is useless for the NATO military doctrine? That's just not how NATO countries wage war. Of course they don't have a good production capacity of a tool they are not likely to use. And even if they wanted to start to produce them at the start of the war, it wouldn't be ready today, it takes a lot of time and resources to build production capacity from scratch.

Yeah but the poor IDF really need US taxpayers help! Heaven forbid it turns into a fair fight! /s

Seriously, though. Hamas is so ridiculously outgunned that I can't imagine any good reason to continue supplying weapons to IDF. If they can't get the job done with what arms have been given then maybe they're not really trying to get the job done at all.

You can't shoot money as artillery munition, first off you'd need a driver load and then it'll get all messed up. There's not enough shells because the west doesn't have much production capacity and doesn't deliver much, it's as simple as that.

The stuff the US sends is overwhelmingly surplus hardware, kind of hard to make disappear, especially the large stuff. Reporting a rifle as lost to the enemy even though you grabbed it for yourself? Quite easy, but won't work often before people get suspicious. A whole crate? Command will have your ass. Stealing an Abrams? Forget it.

It's the EU who is sending the most of the money and practically bankrolling the Ukrainian state -- their economy isn't exactly in a good place right now, tax revenue is low, and all the tax revenue they have they spend on the war. Thus, the EU is picking up bills for wages of civil servants, pensions, such stuff, to avoid Ukraine having to pay people in flour, onions, sunflower oil and eggs confiscated from farmers. Not good for morale, that kind of war economy.

As to corruption in that area: EPPO has a working agreement with their Ukrainian counterpart, and seem to be very content with it. EPPO is the EU's prosecutor office, investigating and prosecuting crimes against the EU budget, headed by the gal who cleaned up Romania.

Ukraine no doubt has an issue with corruption -- but also a people long fed up with the consequences of it, a government fed up with it, and a war that noone wants to see lost because of it, and a national identity that would like to very much distance itself from terminally corrupt Russia.

As you said, war is stupidly expensive and Ukraine is defending itself agai at a country many times it's size that has many times it's resources and manpower and still manages to fight them off. I don't believe for a second that there is a lot of skimming going on as everybody in Ukraine knows what will happen if they lose.

The rich are isolated from the war. It doesn't affect them so supporting Putin is easy. Like the US war in Iraq.