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Cluster Munitions & Artillery in Ukraine - Attrition, Ammunition & Adaptation in 2023

While systems like tanks, jets and cruise missiles tend to capture the public imagination, the war in Ukraine in 2023 is largely being fought with much the same tools as it was in 2022 - artillery.

The constant exchange of fire has been critical to the battle, enabling attrition, blunting attacks and enabling advances. Both sides have continued to adapt, trying to refine their tactics and capabilities while wearing down their opponent.

But in this attritional struggle, losses and resupply of systems, barrels and ammunition matter, not just tactics. Ukraine now finds itself in an ammunition deficit - trying to attack at a time where its allies have not yet ramped up production enough to readily meet its needs.

It's in that context that the US recently announced the supply of cluster munitions to refill Ukraine's ammunition bunkers. Today we look at those munitions, their likely impact, as well as the broader course of the artillery war in Ukraine one year on from my original video on the topic "outgunned"

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  • Its worth listening to, he talks about how Ukraine, Russia and the USA aren't part of the cluster munitions ban and then explains how the risk from cluster munitions is similar to the risk of mines (which people don't seem to be objecting to).

    I thought the most interesting part was his point that cluster munitions help artillery destroy certain targets in fewer shots (e.g. 1 vs 10) and that wouldn't lead to a decrease in firing but an expansion in the number of targets attacked.