Ukrainian artillery is pretty quiet right now as Ukraine gradually recovers from a long period of ammunition-starvation—one mostly inflicted by the Russia-friendly wing of the U.S. Republican Party.
But ammo finally is coming. Lots of it. And Ukraine is readying its big guns to resume blasting away. That starts with repairing dozens of mostly American-supplied M777 towed howitzers—something the Ukrainians finally can do in Ukraine and with Ukrainian parts.
“We have established production of some of these parts here in Ukraine,” said Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the new commander-in-chief of Ukrainian forces. “In particular, when restoring each unit of this howitzer, 40 percent of the parts and spare parts manufactured for the needs of the armed forces of Ukraine at domestic enterprises are used.”
This is important. Sending damaged examples of foreign-made weapons to other countries for repair has resulted in long delays—many months, in some cases—getting those weapons back to Ukraine. Delays at foreign depots have created artificial shortages of Leopard 2 tanks in Ukrainian brigades, for example.
In fixing up its hundreds of M777s locally and with locally-made parts, instead of sending the guns abroad or waiting for shipments of foreign-made parts—or, worse, cannibalizing several damaged howitzers to repair another damaged howitzer—the Ukrainians keep more guns in action, longer.
Ukraine got, from allies including the United States, at least 190 of the M777s. By 2023 the five-ton, five-person howitzers—which lob 100-pound, 155-millimeter shells as far as 18 miles without rocket-assistance—were among the best and most important big guns in Ukrainian service. “The reason is its precision,” one Ukrainian gunner told Radio Free Europe.
In 25 months of hard fighting, the Russians destroyed—mostly with drones and artillery counterbattery—44 of Ukraine’s M777s and damaged another 38 of the guns. That has reduced, by nearly half, the number of M777s on the front line.
A shortage of howitzers isn’t the Ukrainian artillery corps’ biggest problem. Its biggest problem is those Russia-friendly Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, who began blocking further U.S. aid to Ukraine starting in October. Deprived of American ammo, Ukrainian batteries went from firing as many as 10,000 shells a day to just 2,000.
But the Republicans may finally be caving to intense pressure to side with democratic Ukraine over authoritarian Russia. Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson has pledged to schedule a vote on fresh aid to Ukraine in April.
If that happens, the U.S. government could rush-ship potentially hundreds of thousands of shells to Ukraine. They might begin to arrive at the same time that at least a million shells purchased for Ukraine by a Czech-led consortium also arrive. Ukraine also has been getting the last few hundred thousand of those million shells the European Union pledged last year.
All that is to say, Ukraine soon could be flush with artillery ammo.
If so, the Ukrainian artillery corps will want to return to action every gun that safely can shoot—including however many of those 38 damaged M777s still are damaged. Which is why it’s such a big deal that the Ukrainians are beginning to repair M777s in-country, with their own parts.
Sources:
1. Ukrinform: https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-ato/3845632-oleksandr-sirskij-golovnovnokomanduvac-zsu.html
2. Radio Free Europe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDiWjgHNZd4
3. Oryx: https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/04/answering-call-heavy-weaponry-supplied.html; https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-ukrainian.html
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