Ukraine faces a tough situation amid war with Russia due to the lack of sufficient weapons that allow them to face the enemy side.
Its president, Volodimir Zelensky, demands “more heavy weapons” from his allies at a time when the Russians are concentrating their forces in the Donbas region, specifically in the city of Severodonetsk, a key town in this region in the east of the country.
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As warned this Wednesday by Mijailo Podolyak, adviser to the Ukrainian Presidency, the ratio of Russian to Ukrainian artillery is 10 to 1 in certain areas.
In a message on Twitter, collected by the Ukrainian agency Ukrinform, Podolyak points out that “the ratio between Russian and Ukrainian artillery in certain areas is 10 to 1” and recalls that “the front line is more than 1,000 km”.
“Every day I get messages from advocates: ‘We’re holding on, we’re up, just tell us when to expect the guns.’ I address this question to the participants of ‘Ramstein’. Brussels, we await a decision,” she added.
This Wednesday, the Ukraine Defense Contact Group was in Brussels, a format promoted by the United States and whose first meeting was held on April 26 at the American Ramstein airbase, in Germany, in which the defense ministers of some forty countries to talk about how to increase aid to Ukraine.
The second meeting, known as “Ramstein-2” took place in a virtual format on May 23 and, according to Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, turned into a whole coalition of states in support of Ukraine.
The group will have to determine this Wednesday how to support the Ukrainian country and if and when it sends more weapons to face attacks on the ground.
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In this sense, Ukraine awaits a decision this Wednesday on an increase in the delivery of weapons by its Western allies, said the adviser to the Ukrainian presidency.
The meeting brought together the defense ministers of the NATO countries and also those of allied countries such as Sweden and Finland. In all, “about 50 countries” were present, according to the US ambassador to NATO. The Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Oleksiï Reznikov, also participated in the meeting.
Ukraine is really in a very critical situation
NATO is not organizing deliveries of aid or weapons to Ukraine to defend against Russian invasion, but individual allies have already provided it with billions of dollars worth of military equipment, as well as economic and humanitarian aid.
In addition, during the summit on June 29 and 30 in Madrid to be held by NATO, allied leaders plan to agree on a comprehensive assistance package for Ukraine that will help it in the long term to transition from Soviet-era military equipment to more modern ones such as those used by the Alliance countries, which would also allow it to improve interoperability with them.
In that sense, the secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, said on Wednesday that there was an “urgent need” to increase deliveries of modern weapons to Ukraine, but warned that time is needed to train to force Ukrainians in this new weaponry.
“Ukraine is really in a very critical situation, and therefore there is an urgent need to step up” the delivery of weapons, Stoltenberg said.
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The conclusions of the meeting
The United States and NATO urged on Wednesday to accelerate the delivery of weapons to Ukraine to prevent the conquest of the Donbas region (this) by the troops of Russia, which received a boost from China on issues of “sovereignty” and “security”.
We cannot afford to lower our arms and we cannot lose strength. The stake is too great. Ukraine is facing a crucial moment on the battlefield.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin urged the Contact Group on Ukraine to urgently “step up” the commitment to hand over the weapons that Ukraine is vehemently demanding.
Almost fifty defense ministers, including the Ukrainian Oleksiy Reznikov, participated in that meeting, on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The main topic of discussion of the conclave is to meet the demand for heavy weapons and in larger quantities to repel the Russian advance in Donbas. “Brussels, we are waiting for a decision,” Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, tweeted.
.@SecDef: By working together, we can help Ukraine defend itself from Russia’s cruel assault and we can strengthen Ukraine’s security for the long haul. pic.twitter.com/DUW9hLJmi3
— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) June 15, 2022
These are artillery, long-range systems and anti-aircraft systems according to NATO standards, which requires training, conservation, maintenance
In addition, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg joined the request, but warned that training troops in the use of the new arsenals will take time.
“Ukraine is really in a very critical situation, and therefore there is an urgent need to step up” the delivery of weapons, he said.
Weapons Ukraine is asking for include rocket launch systems, which the United States and Britain have agreed to provide.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Wednesday from Norway that deliveries were “imminent.” The Ukrainians also want self-propelled guns, such as the French-made Caesar guns.
France has delivered six pieces to kyiv in recent weeks and AFP on Wednesday saw Ukrainian soldiers using those cannons to fire at Russian targets in Donbas. Russia tries to intercept Western arms deliveries and regularly announces that it has destroyed NATO-supplied shipments.
New aid from the United States
The administration Biden to announce $650 million worth of weapons and equipment for Ukraineincluding launchers for vehicle-mounted Harpoon anti-ship missiles for the first time, according to people familiar with the matter.
The weapons package also includes $320 million for secure radios and related equipment, $55 million for thermal imaging night vision goggles and $160 million for training, one of the people said.
The announcement comes as Ukrainian officials have called for more weapons to be delivered more quickly to prevent gradual Russian advances in the eastern part of the country. President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the war may stall if deliveries of advanced weapons from Ukraine’s allies are not accelerated.
Russia announces the destruction of weapons
Meanwhile, the Russian army said Wednesday that it destroyed a depot of
weapons supplied by NATO countries in western Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that “high-precision Kalibr cruise missiles destroyed near the town of Zolochiv, in the Lviv region, a depot of foreign weapons supplied to Ukraine by NATO countries, specifically M777 howitzers from 155mm”.
Maxim Kozytski, governor of the Lviv region (west), where Zolochiv is located, said in a Telegram message that the Ukrainian anti-aircraft defense had shot down a Russian missile over the city on Tuesday and that six people were slightly injured in its fall.
Unlike the east and south of Ukraine, which have been plagued by Russian-Ukrainian fighting for three and a half months, the west has only been the target of sporadic attacks by Russian troops, targeting military installations receiving Western weaponry. .
In recent weeks, the United States has delivered to Ukraine several batteries of M777 howitzers, state-of-the-art artillery pieces used until recently by the US military in Afghanistan.
However, President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Westerners to send “faster … more weapons and military equipment” because, he said, “the Russians have 10, 100 times more.”
“We have only received 10%” of the weapons that Ukraine “needs”, and without which “we will not be able to win this war”, lamented Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Anna Maliar.
Ukraine warns the world
In addition, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky warned on Wednesday that if Moscow succeeds in its invasion of Ukraine it could attack other countries, including Poland, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
“The tyranny does not want to stop on the territory of Ukraine”, Moscow wants to “make its way to new states”, Zelenski assured in a telematic speech before the Czech Parliament.
He insisted that the aggression of the Russian army against Ukraine, which has been armed for 112 days since its launch on February 24, “must end with the victory” of the attacked country, since in it “the battle for the future of Europe is being waged “.
“We must stop the (Russian) tanks and burn them, so that they can never return to Prague, Brno, Ostrava and Karlovy Vary,” added the president from kyiv, referring to the Czechoslovak invasion by Warsaw Pact troops. in August 1968.
*With information from EFE and AFP
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