Ukraine receives supplies of tanks from abroad. Russia, however, lacks heavy weapons – after Putin, the defense minister has now also admitted this.
Kiev – Russia has too few tanks: even Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has now admitted this. In the Counteroffensive of Ukraine to the south and east of the front line of the Ukraine War becomes Moscow currently pushed back further by Kiev with the help of Western equipment. During a visit to a military factory in western Siberia, Shoigu said that the production of armored vehicles needed to be increased.
When visiting a company in Omsk, Siberia, Shoigu, according to his ministry, demanded “strict compliance with the schedule for the implementation of the state defense mandate”. At the same time, he called for the production capacity for tanks and heavy flamethrower systems to be expanded.
Ukraine News: Putin recently admitted that Russia lacks heavy weapons
Shoigu considers an increase in tank production necessary “to meet the needs of the Russian armed forces conducting the special military operation”. He based this on the statements made by Wladimir Putin Start of the week. The Russian leader had said that the military lacked sufficient “high-precision ammunition, communications equipment, planes, drones, etc.” while stressing that Ukraine had suffered “catastrophic casualties” in the first two weeks of its counter-offensive.
Hanna Maliar, a deputy defense minister of Ukraine, disagrees. According to them, the armed forces of Kiev are gaining ground, especially in Zaporizhia in the south of the country. “They were able to record tactical successes in practically all sectors in which our units attack in the south,” she said. “They are making progress gradually. The advance is currently up to two kilometers in each direction.”
Ukraine News: Kiev’s troops are advancing – also thanks to enough tanks
Maliar told the British Guardians in an interview on Friday that the center of the heaviest fighting over the past week has shifted to the road to Mariupol on Donetsk Oblast’s southern coast, where the Ukrainian offensive is slowly pushing back Russian forces. British Challenger tanks were also “loaded and armed” to join the fight. It is precisely this type of weapon that Moscow apparently lacks at the moment.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently thanked western partners for the ongoing military aid. In his evening video speech on Saturday, Zelenskyi also explicitly mentioned Germany, which had just announced the delivery of 64 more Patriot-type guided missiles for air defense systems to the attacked country. “Germany, thank you (…) for your continued strength in protecting lives from Russian rocket terror,” said Zelenskyy.
However, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, had previously pointed out that his country needed more Western support to defend itself against Russia: “Western support is essential for our survival. But it’s not enough: you can imagine, we have two Iris-T systems, a couple of Patriots,” Makeiev said Berlin newspaper looking at the two air defense systems. Kyiv is well protected, but elsewhere more anti-aircraft systems, armored vehicles and tanks are needed. The diplomat reiterated Ukraine’s demand for fighter jets and long-range ammunition. (cgsc with dpa)
Russian TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov is one of Putin’s most important propagandists. He demands the reconstruction of the Soviet Union.
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