Ukraine says 'losing territory', blames West's delayed weapons delivery
Ukraine has complained about its Western allies' late delivery of weapons and munitions to the Kiev forces, blaming the West's delays for its latest defeats against Russia.
“We have a plan. We are working to the plan. We are doing everything possible and impossible. But without timely supply [of Western arms and munitions], it’s hard for us,” Ukraine’s defense minister, Rustem Umerov, said on Sunday.
Umerov added that the Ukrainian forces were “losing territory” to Russian troops because “50 percent” of the arms and munitions reached them late.
He said that no modern nation could win a war without "air superiority," reminding that the F-16 jets promised by the West had not yet been delivered to Kiev.
Umerov said that the Kiev forces had been building new fortifications and “thousands of strongholds.”
However, he added that the West's delay in supplying arms and munitions was leading to setbacks and deaths on the battlefield.
According to Umerov, while the US Congress was delaying the Americans' new shipment of military aid to Kiev, Ukraine’s forces were running out of air defense missiles and artillery shells.
He said while the Russians had spent $150 billion on the war since it launched its special military operation in eastern Ukraine in February 2022, the Kiev forces had built and were now using Ukrainian-made drones to sink Russian warships.
Ukraine has dramatically scaled up drone production, and was constructing its version of Russia’s Lancet drone, he added.
It had also produced models capable of flying hundreds of kilometers to hit targets deep inside Russia, as well as more than a million first-person view drones.
Officials indicated that in a time of artillery shortages, home-produced drones would be the first line of defense for Ukraine against Russian troops.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has also complained to Kiev’s Western allies about “keeping Ukraine in the artificial deficit of weapons, particularly in deficit of artillery and long-range capabilities".
Zelensky has been making continuous efforts to shore up more and more guns, tanks, planes and ammunition from the West.
The Western countries have responded to Ukraine's requests by sending Kiev multiple shipments of weaponry and munitions.
However, Russia has repeatedly warned that flooding Ukraine with arms and ammunition will only prolong the war, not stopping the Russian troops from reaching their set military objectives in the region.
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