Military correspondent praises new Russian artillery shells – and laments problems at the front

Russian military bloggers report not only on successes. Problems at the front, for example with artillery, are also often discussed. What about the "god of war" in the current conflict in Ukraine? A look at Russian Telegram channels.

Artillery is the "god of war" – this ancient military wisdom goes back to the Napoleonic Wars. It also applies to the Ukraine war. Since the air force can only be used to a limited extent due to strong air defense, the role of conventional artillery is now becoming more important again. So, military success increasingly depends on the quantity and quality of artillery ammunition.

For months, Western military analysts have been predicting ammunition shortages for the Russian army. "When will the Russians run out of projectiles?" This question has also become a meme on the Russian Internet. The Russian authorities regularly inform that the production of ammunition at many plants has been ramped up to a three-shift operation.

According to ex-President Dmitry Medvedev, the enterprises of the Russian defense industry have "reached a high volume in arms production." As deputy chairman of the Security Council, Medvedev is also entrusted with the control of the defense industry. "I didn't think, especially at the beginning, that the military-industrial complex would adapt so quickly," he said last week during his visit to Vietnam. He also said that "as a whole" there were enough artillery shells.

There was also praise for the supply of ammunition from the front. "This new ammunition, which is now being produced for artillery, hits the nail on the head," well-known military correspondent Alexander Sladkov said on his Telegram channel on Saturday, thanking the manufacturers.

"Great, the ammunition is of the highest quality."

This is the unanimous opinion of the artillerymen and war correspondents. "We're mastering it. We can do it. We should do it. We are waiting," he concluded.

However, Sladkov does not consider the situation at the front to be satisfactory, especially in terms of artillery. "Our positions are under heavy artillery fire. I know a lot of bad details, but I won't reveal them," he wrote just hours earlier. Embittered, he shared:

"The tendency is that we are being shot at and not reacting, and there are no good reasons for that. It is not because of the fighting battalions, regiments, divisions. Hundreds of shells are fired at us and we do not react to them. What kind of war is this?"

According to correspondents, the enemy artillery fire will not be returned due to the lack of a counter-battery in the airborne troops. "We waste people because of our own shortcomings. Yes, we inflict heavy damage on the enemy with our missile strikes behind the lines. But the front line must also be defended, that's where our men are," Sladkov lamented.

The problem of insufficient counter-battery fire was also reported by the well-known field commander Alexander Khodakovsky on his Telegram channel. "The enemy fired seventy-four large-caliber shells at six of our positions within an hour. Methodically, by passing fire from one position to another, eleven to seventeen shells per position ... Thank God ours remained unscathed. But what's depressing is that we didn't respond," he said on May 31.

Khodakovsky commands the assault battalion "Vostok" and comes from the Donetsk People's Republic. He has been at the front since 2014 and is the only known field commander of the militia who has survived. In his text posts on Telegram, he often reports on problems that, in his opinion, could prevent Russia's victory and shares his ideas for solving them.

"As long as the spiritual basis of our existence is not changed, Russia has no chance. All superficial measures are just gimmicks. We must now gain time not only to start anew, but also to fundamentally change course. If we don't, we will only delay the (sad) outcome," the military wrote in his latest post.

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