War in Ukraine: Russia produces almost three times more artillery shells than the United States and Europe combined

To wage its war of aggression in Ukraine, which has turned into a war of attrition, Moscow is now producing 250,000 artillery munitions per month, or nearly 3 million per year, according to information from Russia's intelligence services. NATO as revealed by CNN television.

On the other hand, the United States and Europe can today produce nearly 1.2 million munitions each year to support the Ukrainian forces, according to a senior official from a European intelligence service cited by the American media.

And if Ukraine has promised to produce 100,000 artillery shells per month itself, or less than half of what Russia produces, the objective is now moving away with the blocking by the Congress of the United States. United with new American aid of 60 billion euros.

“We find ourselves in a production war,” also declared the senior official interviewed while remaining anonymous. “The outcome of this war depends on how each side is equipped to fight this war.”

The Ukrainian army “fires between 5,000 and 8,000 shots (155 mm shells) daily while Russia fires between 10,000 and 15,000 shots,” French senators from the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee recently warned in a report published in January. “If [Ukrainian] ammunition production has increased twenty-fold since 2022, this remains very insufficient,” underlined the senatorial report warning of an “extremely low” level of European production to support Ukraine.

The need for shells on a very extensive front of almost 1000 kilometers is felt at a critical moment when Russia is now considered to be in the initiative on the battlefield, particularly after the capture of the town of Avdiivka. And while Western allies have chosen to provide sophisticated weapons like tanks or F-16 fighter jets, the biggest need at the front remains artillery firepower, according to observers.

“The Russian war machine is running at full speed,” the head of a European intelligence service also warned CNN. The country operates its shell factories “24 hours a day, 7 days a week” with labor rotations every 12 hours. Nearly 3.5 million Russians now work in the defense sector, compared to 2 to 2.5 before the war, the American media also reports. Moscow can also count on deliveries from its Iranian and North Korean allies.