The general in charge of land logistics calls for more weapons to be sent and says weapons received so far have covered only 15% of demand. Ukraine’s army has suffered heavy material losses since the start of the war with Russia, according to a high-ranking general. In an interview with an American magazine, the general who is responsible for the logistics of the ground forces admitted that almost 50% of the country’s military equipment has been lost in fighting in recent months.
“To date, we have lost approximately between 30% and 40%, sometimes up to 50%, of equipment as a result of active combat. Thus, we lost approximately 50%”, said Brigadier General Volodimir Karpenko in an interview with the National Defense magazine published on Wednesday (15/06).
Karpenko admitted that about 1,300 infantry fighting vehicles, 400 tanks and 700 artillery systems of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were lost in the war. The general stressed that this was an estimate made based on the frontline and intensity of the conflict.
In the interview, Karpenko reiterated the request for help to send more weapons to the country. “We received a large number of weapons system, but that only covered 10% to 15% of our demand,” he said. “The war we are now seeing in Ukraine was last time in 1945 when the world won evil.”
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, Ukraine has been calling for arms to be sent. A week ago, the country’s deputy military intelligence said that Ukrainian troops were outnumbered in artillery and relied almost exclusively on Western weapons to resist. The military would also be almost out of ammunition on the battlefront.
Several countries have already pledged to help Ukraine. The United States recently promised to send high-tech medium-range missile systems. The launchers are part of a new US$700 million US security aid package for Ukraine, which will also include helicopters, Javelin-type anti-tank weapon systems, tactical vehicles, spare parts, among others.
Germany, France, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Canada, Poland, and other countries have also supplied or plan to send weapons to Ukraine.
Showdowns in Donbass
The front line of the war is currently concentrated in the Donbass region. The situation is particularly dramatic in Sievierodonetsk, where the Russian army bombed the Asot chemical factory, one of the last points of resistance in the city. According to Ukrainian sources, a further 560 civilians, including 38 children, sought protection in the factory’s bunkers.
Russian officials said on Saturday that an agreement had not yet been reached to evacuate the factory and blamed the Ukrainians for refusing to accept a ceasefire deal.
The city of Sievierodonetsk is the last stronghold of Ukrainian forces in Lugansk and the most active scene of hostilities in recent weeks. Ukrainian forces isolated themselves in this chemical factory in a maneuver similar to the one carried out in Mariupol, where the Ukrainian army took refuge in the Azovstal steelworks, which ended up falling, like the entire city, to Moscow’s power.
cn (AFP, Lusa, ots)
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