Russia is suffering from a “significant shortage” of ammunition for its artillery, which could limit its operations in Ukraine in the future, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday.
“The Russians have had logistical problems since the beginning” of the invasion of Ukraine and “they are still struggling with logistics,” Lloyd Austin told reporters aboard a military plane.
They “suffer from a significant shortage of artillery missiles,” particularly since Kyiv destroyed several Russian munitions stocks, the Pentagon chief specified.
significantly reduced stocks
Russia has used its artillery heavily since the start of the war, firing numerous rockets at Ukrainian forces before any movement on the ground.
“For this type of operation, you need a lot of ammunition. I’m not sure they have enough to allow this type of thing in the future,” he added.
Lloyd Austin clarified that Russia’s stocks of precision missiles had been “significantly reduced” during the nine months of the war and that Moscow would not be able to quickly replace them due to trade sanctions imposed on Russia, particularly on microprocessors.
Russia fired a total of about 70 cruise missiles at Ukraine on Wednesday, 51 of which were shot down, the Ukrainian Air Force said after the barrage triggered massive power outages.
Source: BFM TV
