Russia is producing artillery shells around three times faster than Ukraine’s Western allies and for about a quarter of the cost, the analysis by Sky News showed.
The analysis by the management consulting firm Bain & Company highlights a major challenge faced by the Ukrainian armed forces as they rely on ammunition supplies from the United States and Europe to battle Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The war has been described as a “battle of fires” due to the volume of artillery rounds used. Sky News reports that Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline say, “For every round, they fire against Russian positions, the invading troops can launch around five shells back.”
“Often, with just one, two or three shells, we can completely destroy a target,” said Senior Lieutenant Kostiantin, an artillery battery commander with the 57th Brigade. However, the commander added, “We have to keep holding the Russians back… and make every meter of the land they try to take cost them hundreds of lives.”
The research by Bain & Company, which drew on publicly available information, found that Russian factories were forecast to manufacture or refurbish about 4.5 million artillery shells this year compared with a combined production of about 1.3 million rounds across European nations and the US.
The analysis also revealed that the average production cost per 155 mm shell – the type produced by NATO countries – was about $4,000 (£3,160) per unit, though it varied significantly between countries.
This is compared with a reported Russian production cost of around $1,000 (£790) per 152 mm shell used by the Russian armed forces.
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