Shell shortage hampers our fight against Russia, say Ukrainian gunners

Standing in a clearing surrounded by snow-dusted trees, Viacheslav, an artillery company commander fighting in eastern Ukraine, said a shortage of shells was hampering Ukrainian soldiers' ability to push back Russian assaults. “We lack ammunition.

Standing in a clearing surrounded by snow-dusted trees, Viacheslav, an artillery company commander fighting in eastern Ukraine, said a shortage of shells was hampering Ukrainian soldiers' ability to push back Russian assaults.

“We lack ammunition. There is very little of it. Too few (shells) are given to us," the artilleryman, fighting with the 93rd brigade west of the ruined, Russian-occupied city of Bakhmut, said. Ukraine is heading into the third year of a full-scale Russian invasion facing what the defence minister called a "critical" deficit of artillery ammunition as he implored Ukraine's allies to send more.

Russia is currently able to fire several times more artillery shells than Ukraine, according to Ukrainian soldiers and officials. The United States has been Ukraine's biggest backer throughout the war, but the supply of aid is currently in question as Republicans in Congress block the passage of a crucial aid bill.

"We often look at the video feeds of our (drone) pilots, they show us pictures from the frontline. A lot of Russians try to attack (our positions). If we had more ammunition, we could have stopped them," Viacheslav said. "Since we lack ammunition, we have nothing to work with. We see the target, we can hit it, but we have nothing to do it with.”

Viacheslav's fellow artilleryman, Volodymyr, spoke of the exhaustion and pain he felt after losing his comrades after a Russian Lancet drone struck their position. “It is hard to lose people that you just met... A year ago, a Lancet hit us, a couple of days passed, and I came to our positions.

"...And you understand: this guy is gone, that guy is gone. In 30 minutes I started crying, I sobbed. I couldn’t stop.” (Writing by Max Hunder; Editing by Nick Macfie)