Russia's Artillery Losses Highest Since War Began: Kyiv

Russia's military has lost a record number of artillery systems in Ukraine, figures from Kyiv's armed forces indicate.

Kyiv's military said at the start of July that Russia had lost the highest number of artillery systems in a single month throughout June. Moscow lost a total of 1,415 systems across the month, according to Ukraine's figures.

Updated statistics published on Tuesday suggested that Russia has lost 1,457 artillery systems on Ukraine's battlefields since the beginning of July, including 46 in the past 24 hours.

That means, going by Kyiv's data, Russian artillery losses hit a new high each of the past three months, with the 4032 units lost in this period making up a quarter of Russia's total alleged artillery losses in Ukraine.

Since February 2022, Moscow has lost 16,056 artillery systems, according to Kyiv.

Newsweek could not independently verify Ukraine's tally and has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

Both Russia and Ukraine lean heavily on artillery to provide vital firepower, though the rapidly evolving drone race has helped to prop up strikes on one another's key assets. Artillery systems used by Ukraine include High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, also known as HIMARS, and different types of howitzers.

Artillery is typically described as responsible for a large percentage of casualties along the hundreds of miles of front lines snaking through eastern and southern Ukraine.

"Artillery is very important, as we have seen throughout the war," said Marina Miron, a postdoctoral researcher with the War Studies department at King's College London. Artillery is crucial in sections of the front line that are relatively static, without significant advances on either side, she told Newsweek.

Artillery fire can be used to target enemy positions and overcome defenses, while shielding advancing forces from these very defenses. It is often used alongside infantry attacks or mechanized assaults, where troops have a range of armored vehicles to move around the battlefield.

In December, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's minister of digital transformation and drone czar, told Newsweek that first-person view drones were becoming more useful to Ukraine's front-line fighters than many artillery systems. Kamikaze or explosive drones have been widely and effectively used to attack Russian assets like tanks and armored vehicles, while airborne drones frequently help Ukrainian forces to target and then fire on Moscow's positions with artillery.

Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday that it had destroyed 12,535 Ukrainian field artillery systems and mortars. Newsweek could not independently verify this tally.

Kyiv's figures have at once pointed to tens of Russian artillery systems being lost each day, and high casualty counts as Moscow plugs on with slow but steady advances along the eastern front lines and bears down on Ukraine's northeastern border.

Ukraine has consistently reported the fiercest clashes west of the Donetsk city of Avdiivka—which Russia captured in February—as the Kremlin's forces move toward Ukraine's key defensive settlements in the Donetsk region.

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