Update: The Pentagon is providing 18 more HMAR launchers to Ukraine as part of a new $1.1 billion aid package. The new systems will take a few years to build and deliver, however. Pentagon officials said that the mobile rocket system will be the core of Ukraine's fighting force in the future. Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to push Russian troops out of the so-called annexed areas of Ukraine. Advances are now being made in Kherson Oblast in the south after regaining large amounts of territory in the north. Recapturing Kherson, which fell early in the war, would be a key victory for Ukraine's forces.
It has become axiomatic that the war on Ukraine is an artillery duel. This chart compares the number of shells expended by both sides in comparison to the World Wars:
The chart shows that Russia is in the neighborhood of the British, French and German armies in World War I, which is over 50,000 shot per day. Russia has been known to rely heavily on artillery in previous engagements, but it enormous supply of munitions is not making up for incompetence, ineffective close air support, and poor training on the battlefields of eastern Ukraine. This situation explains why HMARS, MLRS and similar systems provided by the West are proving effective. Now, with the Ukrainian counteroffensive going forward, a lot of those shells are being captured and returned via air to the Russians. The taking of just annexed Lyman this weekend by the Ukrainians is a key strategic victory because the town controls a critical rail link the Russians were using to supply their troops to the south. Undoubtably those supplies included munitions.
Ukraine continues to take out ammo dumps with precision rocket strikes. Ukraine faces a problem however, its supply of precision munitions is limited. It now has about 20 HMAR launchers, counting the latest shipment of four more. Each pod of six missiles costs $750, 000. The Pentagon is rapidly shifting funds to expand production of the weapons in the United States, but that expansion will take time and more money. Current monthly production rate is 126 pods, not close to being enough for Ukraine's purposes.