“Ukraine is losing out to Russia on the front lines and is now almost entirely dependent on weapons coming from the West to keep Russia in trouble,” said Vadym Skipetsky, Ukraine’s deputy military intelligence chief.

“Now there is an artillery war going on, and now the future will be decided on the front line, and we are losing in terms of artillery,” he explained to The Guardian. “It all depends now on what the West gives us, and in Ukraine for every 10-15 Russian artillery pieces accounted for one artillery mount.Our Western partners gave us about 10 percent of what they had.”

According to Skipetsky, Ukraine uses between 5,000 and 6,000 artillery rounds a day. Commenting on the ammunition fired from artillery pieces, he noted: “We have exhausted almost all of our ammunition (artillery) and are now using NATO 155 caliber shells”, adding that “Europe also provides small-caliber shells, but as Europe runs out, the amount is less.”

The deputy head of Ukrainian military intelligence emphasized “the need for the West to provide Ukraine with long-range missile systems to destroy Russian artillery pieces from afar.” He believed that “the conflict in the near future will remain mainly artillery, and the number of missile strikes that can be launched from Russian territory and hit civilians will remain at the current level.”