Huge panic - the Russians will "stomp" us

Huge panic - the Russians will "stomp" us

That's why defense experts warn that it could give Russia a huge material superiority in the war in Ukraine.

As Blic reports, official Moscow has also turned some shopping centers into scientific research centers that produce drones. Also, Russians were called to work six days a week and volunteer in factories as part of the increased war effort. There is even footage from Russian television showing Russian children learning to assemble ammunition parts in workshops.

And these, as further stated, are only the most visible parts of the economic mobilization that Vladimir Putin hopes will turn the tide of the war, and which Ukrainian and Western generals fear.

"We are currently in a scenario where Russia is spending 40 percent of GDP on this war. That's more than health and education," an unnamed Western official told the British Telegraph.

Although there is much talk behind the scenes about the urgency of the situation, Western governments are simply not keeping up. "It's crazy," said one British defense insider, who requested anonymity citing institutional barriers to disseminating information about Western weapons production. On the other hand, the secrecy of the Russian defense industry and the tendency of officials to manipulate figures for propaganda purposes make it difficult to assess the exact degree of Russia's transition to a war economy. But almost all experts agree that it is happening and that it is dangerous.

For example, Russia produced 1,530 tanks and 2,518 armored fighting vehicles in 2023, Sergei Shoigu, Russia's defense minister, said in a report to parliament in December.

He said that this represents a 560 percent increase in tank production from February 2022. Production of infantry fighting vehicles increased by 360 percent, and armored personnel carriers by 350 percent.

Western officials told The New York Times this month that Russia was on track to produce two million artillery shells a year -- double the amount Western intelligence initially estimated Russia could produce before the war.

If we add the deliveries of shells, missiles and drones from Iran and North Korea - Russia is already confirming the fire supremacy it had at the beginning of the war.

In a five-day barrage at the end of December, Russia fired 500 missiles and drones at Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Research released this month by security think tank RUSI found that Ukraine fired 7,000 artillery rounds a day during its summer counteroffensive, far more than Russia's 5,000. However, this month, the Russians fired 10,000 and the Ukrainians dropped to 2,000.

This not only limits Ukraine's ability to launch new offensives but means artillery units have trouble suppressing Russian guns and leaves infantry in the trenches without desperately needed fire support.

By February 2023, one year into the war, European production was estimated at just 300,000 rounds per year.

In November, Boris Pistorius, the German defense minister, admitted that the EU's promise to deliver one million grenades to Ukraine by March this year would not be fulfilled.

The implication is clear: if the West does not act, Ukraine may lose the war. What will happen after that, no one knows.