Ukraine has purportedly seen a decline in the deliveries of 155mm artillery shells since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war.
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that deliveries of artillery shells from the U.S have ‘decreased’ since Israel unleashed its relentless bombing campaign in Gaza following the October 7th Hamas attack.
The U.S. has provided Ukraine with a huge amount of artillery ammunition since Russia launched its invasion last year, including over 2 million 155mm shells. But supplies are strained as Ukraine is using ammunition at a much faster rate than can be produced by the entire NATO alliance.
Supplies are even more strained now that the U.S. is backing Israel’s onslaught in Gaza. The support includes near-daily weapons shipments. Axios recently reported that the U.S. had diverted 155mm shells initially bound for Ukraine to Israel to replenish an ammunition stockpile in the country.
‘Our deliveries have decreased’, Zelenskyy told reporters on November 16th, according to AFP. ‘It’s not like the U.S. said: we don’t give Ukraine any. No! It’s just that everyone is fighting for (stockpiles) themselves … This is life. I’m not saying that this is positive, but this is life, and we have to defend what’s ours’.
According to Defense One, Ukraine fires about 240,000 155mm artillery shells per month, significantly higher than U.S. monthly production rates. The U.S. has ramped up its monthly production rate to 28,000 shells and is working to reach a goal of 80,000”. -Dave DeCamp, Antiwar
While the ongoing war in Gaza has slowed the delivery of arms to the Ukrainians, the total failure to disrupt Russian logistics throughout Ukraine's summer counteroffensive has undermined all hope of forcing Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.
And now that foreign mercenaries recruited by Ukraine have begun to flee the country due to the gruesome conditions on the battlefield, if Israel and Hamas remain unable to mutually reach an immediate ceasefire, Kiev must either prepare for a significant curtailment of further military assistance from its NATO allies or surrender to Moscow.