Japan was unable to implement the plan to supply Ukraine with shells developed together with Britain

The United Kingdom intended to compensate for the supply of artillery shells to Ukraine with Japanese-made ammunition, but this plan has come to a halt, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Japan was supposed to produce 155-millimeter shells under license from the British company BAE Systems and ship them to the UK.

However, despite the single NATO caliber, it turned out that the shells and especially the charges to them from different manufacturers are incompatible or require recalculation of firing tables.

Japan cannot directly ship shells to Ukraine due to a ban on arms exports to countries involved in military conflict.

Ukraine is in dire need of supplies, as the country's artillery uses up thousands of shells every day, the WSJ notes.

In particular, the publication reports that Germany plans to increase direct arms supplies to Ukraine by building a new factory.

"We will build a new ammunition plant in record time to ensure strategic security of supply," the CEO of defense concern Rheinmetall told Bild.

According to him, last year the concern received an order for €10 billion from the government, and this year the amount may increase to €15 billion.

The Russian Defense Ministry claims that since February 2022, the production of artillery ammunition in Russia has increased 17.5 times.

Also, according to South Korean intelligence, the Russian army received more than 1 million Soviet-caliber shells from the DPRK for the war with Ukraine.

At the same time, the media report on possible problems in Russia with the wear and tear of artillery barrels, which have been depleted over the two years of war. According to the American Forbes, only two factories produced barrels before the invasion. Due to the shortage, Russians are repairing military equipment by disassembling Cold War-era howitzers, the publication claimed.