2025-07-17
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The Economist.
In 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion,
Ukraine was making just 50,000 artillery shells a year.
That was not enough.
Both sides were relying on artillery.
The problem for Ukraine is that at this point with shells,
Russian artillery outnumbers Ukraine by about 10 to 1.
Ukrainian officials say they are losing up to 200 soldiers every day.
In the early days of the war,
the country's soldiers were getting through six to seven thousand rounds a day.
The Russians were firing up to 50,000.
So there was a rush to stock Ukraine's dwindling arsenals.
More American weapons will soon be on the way to Ukraine.
President Biden made that announcement today as Ukrainian forces brace for a tough fight with Russia's military across eastern Ukraine.
But even America, the world's largest arms exporter by far, only produced 15,000 rounds a month.
What followed was a miracle of industrial growth.