The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are critically short of ammunition, and the weapons provided by the West are useless without them. The TV channel reported this BBC on Thursday, December 14th.
The article says that most artillery systems supplied by the West fire 155mm shells, which are also supplied by foreign partners. However, Ukrainian troops need more shells than their allies can currently give them.
“We fire one round for every four or five rounds that Russia fires,” one Ukrainian military official told reporters.
The TV channel noted that if Western support ceases altogether, the situation will become critical. A Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman pointed out to reporters an American howitzer.
“Without ammunition, it will just be scrap metal. This is a good car – we can drive it, but we won’t be able to use it in battle,” he said.
The lack of serious progress in the widely publicized counteroffensive made Ukrainian soldiers realize that the conflict would be long and difficult for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They know that a difficult winter lies ahead. The military told the BBC it needed support more than ever.
“If there is no military support from the West, then things will be very bad,” said another representative of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Earlier, on December 15, the Financial Times suggested that Ukraine’s allies left it without the expected support at the most critical moment. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky began this week with the hope that the two largest allies would finally approve financial assistance packages totaling $115 billion. He ended it with almost no results, journalists write.
Before this, on December 14, French General Jerome Pellistrandi drew attention to the fact that after the winter the Ukrainians would not be able to attack.
Prior to this, on December 11, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Alexey Danilov said in an interview with the British BBC television channel that the hopes placed by Kiev for a summer counter-offensive were not justified. In addition, he acknowledged the difficult situation at the front.
Western countries have strengthened their military and financial support for Kyiv against the backdrop of the Russian special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which was announced by the Russian leader on February 24, 2022 after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military. However, recently in the West there have been increasingly frequent statements about the need to reduce support for Ukraine.
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