Ukrainian strikes cripple Russian ammo supplies, shift artillery war
In October, the intensity of artillery shelling conducted by the Russians in Ukraine dropped significantly. Analysts from the Defense Express portal pointed to precise data, which, in their opinion, clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of the recent attacks on Russian ammunition depots.
"The destruction of several large ammunition depots of the Russian Federation by Ukraine using drones achieved better results in two weeks than all the sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation two years ago," stated the Defense Express analysis.
Significant damage to Russian ammunition depots
The transition from September to October shook Russia, quite literally. The Ukrainians carried out several successful strikes, including noteworthy explosions in the Tikhoretsk region of Krasnodar Krai and the city of Toropets in the Tver region. They were so powerful that tremors measuring 2.8 on the Richter scale were recorded in the vicinity.
The Russians lost enormous quantities of various types of ammunition. The depot in Toropets was a storage site for rockets such as Grad, S-300, and S-400, and even ballistic missiles. After the attack, Ukrainian intelligence reported that Iskander ballistic missiles and North Korean KN-23 were stored there. These are very dangerous weapons with a range of several hundred kilometres. Both types of missiles mentioned have similar performance and dimensions, each measuring over 7 metres in length and approximately 1 metre in diameter.
The Russians are starting to run out of ammunition
Referring to publicly available data and reports, including one shared by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Defense Express noticed a marked decrease in the Russians' use of artillery ammunition.
During July-August 2024, their advantage over the shelling conducted by the Ukrainians was 3 to 1. This meant that Russian soldiers were using about 45,000 shells daily. Currently, the average is about 30,000 shells daily. This is still twice as much as the Ukrainians (about 15,000 shells daily) but significantly less than just a few weeks ago.
The Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine, Gen. Ivan Havryluk, also believes that such statistics and improvements in the situation were achieved thanks to the attacks on the Russian ammunition depots. Artillery has been the main driving force of the Russian offensive since the beginning of the war. The Ukrainians have repeatedly appealed to the West for increased deliveries of ammunition but often received it too late and generally much less than needed. In early September, Russian pro-war bloggers began to speak loudly about "shell hunger" for the first time.
