As Russia's invasion of Ukraine nears its 11th month, US and Ukrainian officials say that Russia's artillery fire is much less than it was during wartime, in some places by as much as 75%.
According to CNN, officials from the US and Ukraine are still lacking a precise or comprehensive explanation. Russia may be cutting down on artillery fire because of dwindling supplies, but it might also be a strategic shift in response to Ukrainian successes on the offensive.
Moscow's sharp reduction in artillery firing almost a year into the Russia Ukraine War shows its growing military weakness. It also occurs as Ukraine's western allies announced last week that they would provide armored battle vehicles plus an additional Patriot Defense missile battery to safeguard its airspace.
Meanwhile, US intelligence sources think that Russian President Vladimir Putin is scrambling to build up domestic political support for a war he first would only define as a limited "special military operation."
Sources said the US saw Vladimir Putin's decision to call for a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine last week so that Orthodox Christians could celebrate Christmas as an appeal to Russia's large Christian population and a chance for Putin to blame Ukrainians for violating the truce and brand them as heretics.
One of Putin's closest pals, Yevgeny Prigozhin, chairman of the mercenary outfit Wagner Group, has been a vocal critic of the way the Russia Ukraine War has been handled. Prigozhin accused the Russian Ministry of Defense of mismanaging the war effort and said that additional resources, power, and flexibility should be provided to the Wagner Group to conduct operations in Ukraine.
The Wagner Group, meanwhile, has lost hundreds of fighters in Ukraine in only the previous two months of the Russia Ukraine War, according to a senior US official.
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Russia's Ammunition Stocks Seen To Further Drop Within Several Weeks
Earlier this month, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Russian soldiers seem to be using up all their artillery ammunition in Ukraine.
The circumstances will likely partly impede Russian troops from continuing a high tempo of attacks in the Bakhmut region and elsewhere in Ukraine, according to the US-based research group, per The National News.
According to ISW's analysis, Russian troops in Ukraine are encountering serious challenges with artillery ammunition that will become more evident "by March of 2023." The basis of the evaluation was a December 31 report by the Chief of the Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR), Kyrylo Budanov.
The number of artillery rounds utilized by Russian troops each day has decreased from 60,000 to 19,000 to 20,000, as per Budanov.
Russian Forces Intensify Attacks in Small Ukrainian Town
In a related update from Reuters, Russian soldiers have ramped up their onslaught on the small salt mining town of Soledar in eastern Ukraine, requiring Ukrainian troops to fend off waves of mercenary strikes, according to authorities in Kyiv.
After four days of gains, Russia and the Wagner contract group were likely in control of most of the industrial Donbas town, Britain has said Tuesday.
Russian soldiers would benefit from seizing Soledar while they struggle for control of Bakhmut, a few kilometers (miles) southwest, where both sides have suffered huge casualties in some of the most intensive trench combat since Russia Ukraine War that started over 11 months ago.
