The look and feel of the war in Ukraine has been changing in recent weeks. There are fewer pitched ground battles of “army versus army” and a lot more Russian shelling and Ukrainian air defense missiles being fired in response. We’ve already seen evidence that Russia is probably running out of missiles, but that doesn’t mean that Ukraine is in much better shape. The artillery shelling in both directions is running nearly 24/7 and all of that action eventually takes a toll on the equipment. It’s now being reported that of the roughly 350 howitzers that have been donated to Ukraine by western allies, fully one-third of them are out of action on any given day. The howitzers are being fired so often that the barrels are wearing out, creating potentially dangerous conditions for the soldiers firing them. And there are no facilities to repair and maintain them in Ukraine, so they have to be shipped to Poland for maintenance. This is quickly becoming a serious problem for the defenders.