Decreased Shelling Shows Success in Donetsk Claims Russia, Running out of Ammo Say U.S., Ukrainian Officials

A marked decrease in Russian shelling around the Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR) in Ukraine has led to American and Ukrainian claims that the Kremlin is running out of artillery ammunition while Russia-backed DPR officials assert to the success of the special military operations.

U.S. and Ukrainian officials told CNN that Russia’s artillery fire is down by as much as 75% compared to a few months ago. While U.S. officials claim the rate has dropped from 20,000 rounds per day to approximately 5,000 per day on average, Ukraine estimates that the rate has dropped from 60,000 to 20,000 per day.

Ukraine produces on average about 4,000-7,000 artillery rounds per day, and has burned up its stockpiles. It is now completely dependent on foreign supplies.

The decrease in the intensity of Russian shelling of the DPR in the last few days indicates that Russian operations to eliminate Ukrainian artillery in January and late December were rather successful, DPR People’s Militia Colonel and republican lawmaker Andrey Bayevsky was quoted as saying in a TASS report.

“Since January 5, much less shells were fired at the DPR, on average – less than 200 shells a day. On January 9, only 57 large-caliber shells were fired,” he added.

A senior U.S. military official shared that Russia has had to resort to 40-year-old artillery shells as their supply of new ammo dwindled after prolonged and brutal artillery strikes. Another official said Russia’s declining rate of fire is not linear, and there are days when they still fire far more artillery rounds – particularly around the eastern Ukrainian cities of Bakhmut and Kreminna.

As per Bayevsky, the northern flank of the contact line in the Donetsk direction is the most active and hot spot.