The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are acutely aware of a shortage of ammunition: for every one of their shells there are 10 Russian ones. The newspaper wrote about this on February 7 The Wall Street Journal.
“Ukrainian troops are at a disadvantage due to a shortage of all types of equipment. <…> The most acute shortage is felt in artillery: Russian troops are ahead of the Ukrainians by about 10 shells per shot,” the publication reports, citing a representative of the Ukrainian security forces.
It is noted that after an unsuccessful attempt at a counter-offensive by the Ukrainian Armed Forces last year, their reserves of manpower and equipment are severely depleted, and now Ukraine is forced to wage a defensive struggle.
At the same time, as the newspaper writes, the shortage of ammunition began to affect the course of hostilities now, before the consequences of blocking additional aid to Kyiv from Washington by the Republicans occurred.
Earlier on February 7, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said that the scale of the Ukrainian conflict had reached a level for which the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ ammunition reserves were not ready. He admitted that the country suffers from a shortage of artillery weapons and added that Ukraine, in cooperation with the European Union, needs to create a unified defense industry market.
On the same day, EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell said that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky had asked for additional supplies of shells, drones and air defense systems. He noted that the European Union will continue to support Kyiv “as long as needed, and no matter what.”
On February 6, the Polish Gazeta Wyborcza wrote that the Ukrainian Armed Forces' losses had increased sharply due to a shortage of shells and Russia's overwhelming advantage in artillery. The shortage of weapons in the Ukrainian army arose mainly due to the delay in supplies from the European Union and the blocking of new military assistance from the United States, journalists recalled.
On February 1, the Ukrainian Armed Forces military complained to a correspondent of the French newspaper Le Figaro that they lacked weapons and ammunition, and the Western equipment delivered as part of the assistance did not work.
On January 31, Bloomberg reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces lacked artillery shells and air defense missiles due to the slow process of approving new military assistance from the United States and the European Union. It is noted that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to contain the Russian army. Also, Ukrainian air defense systems cannot shoot down as many targets as before, since they need Western missiles for this.
The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, continues. The decision was made against the backdrop of an aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.
#WSJ #reported #acute #shortage #artillery #shells #among #Ukrainian #Armed #Forces
