Western artillery shells reach the front in Ukraine but it will take time to see their effect – ISW

Artillery shells supplied by the West have started arriving at Ukrainian forces’ frontline positions, albeit in insufficient quantities.

Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW); The Telegraph

Details: Ukrainian forces operating in the vicinity of Vovchansk (to the northeast of Kharkiv) told The Telegraph that Western-supplied ammunition has started reaching their part of the front, but Russian forces in this area still enjoy their munitions advantage.

A Ukrainian soldier told reporters that Russian forces maintain a five-to-one artillery advantage.

Another Ukrainian soldier told ERR, an Estonian broadcaster, that Western-provided ammunition began to "trickle" to the frontline but has not arrived at scale. The soldier said that Russian forces continue to have a "significant advantage" in munitions.

ISW continues to assess that "Russian forces are attempting to make tactically and operationally significant gains before US military assistance arrives to Ukrainian forces at the frontline at scale, and that the initial arrival of Western-provided weaponry will take some time to have tactical to operational effect on the frontline."

To Quote from ISW Key Takeaways on 5 June:

• US officials continue to attempt to clarify US policy regarding Ukraine's ability to strike a limited subset of Russian military targets within Russia with US-provided weapons, but public communications about US policy remain unclear.
• Western-provided artillery ammunition has reportedly started arriving to Ukrainian forces on the frontline, although not at a scale that would allow Ukrainian forces to fully challenge the Russian military's current artillery shell advantage.
• Russian missile and drone strikes have caused significant long-term damage to Ukraine's energy grid, and Ukraine will reportedly face even greater energy constraints in summer 2024.
• Ukrainian outlet Liga reported on 4 June that a source in Ukraine's Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR, or Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence) stated that there are roughly 550,000 Russian military and paramilitary personnel concentrated in occupied Ukraine and near the international border.
• Russian leader Vladimir Putin stated on 4 June that former Russian Defence Minister and Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu will coordinate efforts to increase Russian defence industrial capacity alongside former Tula Oblast Governor and Presidential Aide Alexei Dyumin and Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev.
• The apparent demotion of former First Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council and United Russia Secretary Andrei Turchak on 4 June is likely part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing effort to remove from power the political and military figures that violated his trust in 2023.
• A recent meeting of the Kremlin-appointed Russian Human Rights Council (HRC) on Russia's migration policy reflects Russia's competing imperatives of attracting migrants to offset Russian labour shortages while also catering to its ultranationalist anti-migrant constituency.
• Chechen Republic Rosgvardia Head and Russian State Duma Deputy Adam Delimkhanov accused State Duma Deputy Chairman and New People Party Head Vladislav Davankov of contradicting the Russian Constitution and attempting to divide Russian society, exposing continued tension between Chechen efforts to operate autonomously and the Russian state’s efforts to regulate perceived Islamic extremist threats from migrant and indigenous Muslim communities.
• Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom reportedly assesses that it is unlikely to recover gas sales it lost following the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, illustrating how Western sanctions are achieving some long-term impacts against Russian revenue streams supporting Russia's war effort.
• Russian investigative outlet the Insider and Moldovan outlet Little Country published an investigation on June 5 detailing how former Moldovan Chief of the General Staff Igor Gorgan operated as an agent on behalf of the Russian General Staff’s Main Directorate.
• Russian forces recently advanced southeast of Kupiansk, near Chasiv Yar, west of Avdiivka, and southwest of Donetsk.
• The Kremlin likely authorised the Crimean branch of the Kremlin-created "Defenders of Fatherland" state fund to help grant combatants in Russian private military companies (PMCs) legal veteran statuses, possibly as part of an ongoing state effort to centralise control over irregular formations operating in Ukraine.

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