The West can’t satisfy Ukraine – Kiev
No amount of weapons or ammunition the US and its allies provide to Ukraine will be enough unless Kiev wins, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said on Monday, during an interview with Ukrainian television.
“When we win, I’ll say ‘there were enough weapons.’ But until then, nothing will be enough, however much they send, because if there is no victory, that means it was not enough,” Kuleba said.
What the Ukrainian military needs most at the moment are artillery rounds and armored vehicles, he added. “This is exactly what our forces need now for the counteroffensive, and they are getting these supplies every day.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out on Saturday that “the demilitarization of Ukraine… has de facto been achieved” over the past year, as Kiev ran out of its own weapons and had to replace them with those supplied from the West.
According to estimates by the Russian Defense Ministry, the US and its allies supplied Ukraine with over $100 billion worth of military aid as of December 2022. Since then, the West has also sent hundreds of armored vehicles to replace Kiev’s losses, notably the German-made Leopard 2 tanks and US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. Both have taken heavy losses in the past two weeks of fighting on the Zaporozhye front.
Speaking to a German industry conference on Monday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg admitted that “our weapons and ammunition stocks are depleted and need to be replenished,” urging the Western military industry to step up production.
Meanwhile, the government in Kiev leaked to the New York Times that many of the weapons it contracted for were never delivered, while a significant percentage of second-hand systems donated by the West were not usable on the battlefield and had to be cannibalized for parts.
Russia has repeatedly warned the West that supplying Ukraine with weapons makes them a party to the ongoing conflict. The US and its allies insist they are not involved, while pledging to “support Ukraine for as long as it takes” with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of weapons, equipment, ammunition and cash.
