Grisly urban warfare looms unless west beefs up Ukraine arms supply

Part of the problem is that the endless bombing reflects the overall superiority in numbers of the Russian forces: the Kremlin began its campaign with, on the simplest measure, more than 2.5 times the artillery that Ukraine possessed, according to figures from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

One option is for the west to upgrade its supplies of arms to give Ukraine a better chance, although it has to offer kit the defenders are familiar with. Franz-Stefan Gady, a research fellow with the IISS, said the US and others could supply Ukraine with more US-made AN/TPQ-36 anti-artillery radars.

After starting the war with up to a dozen such drones, a further delivery was made at the beginning of the month. Most still remain, according to the US, but despite the propaganda value that drone-strike videos generate online, it is unclear whether the numbers available to Ukraine can turn the tide.