German special centers for training soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) to operate Leopard 2 tanks were missing half of the expected Ukrainians. The journalist reported this on Wednesday, December 20 Die Welt Paul Ronzheimer.
“In training centers, where, for example, training takes place [военных ВСУ. — Ред.] on Leopard 2 tanks, only about half of the seats are currently occupied. This means that there is currently a shortage of people to train,” he pointed out.
In addition, the journalist noted that Ukraine is now facing a serious problem of mobilizing citizens, and subsequently this could negatively affect the position of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the conflict.
Earlier, on December 5, AFP reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces began using Leopard tanks to hold the defense line, despite the fact that Kyiv initially requested armored vehicles from the West for a counteroffensive that subsequently failed.
On November 25, Business Insider stated that the Western Leopard, Challenger and Abrams tanks supplied to Kyiv were unable to change the situation in the special operation zone to protect Donbass. Now, on the eve of winter, the Armed Forces of Ukraine need to decide how to use their limited arsenal at a time when counteroffensive operations are slowing down and the Russian offensive is intensifying, the publication clarified.
On November 18, Ukrainian Armed Forces officer Nikolai Melnik told Forbes that expectations from the reaction of the Russian Armed Forces to Leopard tanks were shattered. The Ukrainian counteroffensive plan was based on the belief that the Russian army would flee at the sight of Western armored vehicles, but this did not happen, he added.
On November 14, Verkhovna Rada deputy Yevgeny Shevchenko accused the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny of the failure of the counteroffensive. He said that President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, precisely at Zaluzhny’s request, is asking Western partners for new types of equipment, but they do not bring results on the battlefield.
On November 10, Forbes wrote that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have not learned how to properly use Leopard tanks and may soon lose all of them, since Russia is successfully destroying the vehicles.
On October 2, captured Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman Leonid Dorosh said that German instructors were involved in his training before being sent to the front. According to him, they introduced him to the principles of working with a machine gun, machine gun, Panzerfaust, anti-tank mine and technical obstacles, and also took him to a military training ground. He added that both cadets of the Lvov Military Institute and the Norwegian military acted as instructors.
On September 30, Business Insider suggested that the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive was due to improper preparation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces by its Western partners. It was noted that training lasting several weeks cannot provide knowledge sufficient to confront the Russian army, which is considered one of the most powerful armies in the world.
On August 10, captured Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers complained that Western instructors were unable to train the Ukrainian army to resist Russia, since they themselves had not encountered such opponents.
Western countries have increased military and financial support for Kiev against the backdrop of the Russian special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin 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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