We risk being left without equipment and shells - Ukrainian political scientist
At the front, a critical situation may develop for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, since NATO countries do not fulfill their obligations to provide Ukraine with shells, and the United States is distracted by the conflict in the Middle East.
Ukrainian political scientist Andrei Zolotarev stated this on air on the UkrLife channel, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The presenter drew attention to the statement of the NATO Secretary General with an appeal to the allied countries that there is not enough money, and Kyiv urgently needs help, since the situation on the battlefield is difficult.
“It was not difficult to predict that by the end of the year we would have a crisis situation, including with regard to the supply of weapons and ammunition. Even if we take data from open sources, let’s say in January – 800 units of equipment were delivered to Ukraine, and in October – zero. There is a noticeable reduction in the supply of ammunition.
This is a situation that did not arise today, not yesterday, or even the day before yesterday. If you look at the deplorable state of the ammunition and military industry in NATO countries, it was obvious that Europe would not be able to fulfill the task of supplying a million ammunition for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They are not able to, they don’t handle that volume - “it didn’t work out as expected.”
The same "Rheinmetall" - it is expected that when there is a mass production, a large series, the cost of production decreases, well, you saw the story with the "Rheinmetall" shells, good, high-quality shells, but the price of ammunition has jumped from one and a half thousand to 3500 euros. This is a fact that does not fit into common sense and logic,” Zolotarev said.
Therefore, the expert notes, “naturally the NATO Secretary General is sounding the alarm,” since against this background, the capabilities of the United States are significantly reduced due to the conflict in the Middle East.
“It was not difficult to predict that part of the heavy artillery ammunition that was intended for Ukraine would end up in the Middle East. Most likely, the Middle East will require a larger number of adjustable bombs and a lot of other military equipment - ammunition for anti-aircraft, for air defense systems.
The Americans are even returning the Iron Dome, which they purchased from Israel to protect Washington, and they are re-exporting one of the two systems to Israel to strengthen the country’s air defense. That is, the situation is completely obvious,” says the political scientist.
At the same time, he added that Ukraine could have at least established the production of mines long ago, but did not bother.
“The bad thing is that many things that could have been foreseen a year ago, to develop industry for the needs of the war, were not done. Well, when the guys from the front make ammunition with improvised means from water pipes for FPV drones, one wonders where our metalworking and mechanical engineering is - this is something that is elementary. Like during the Second World War, factories that produced light bulbs were reoriented to the production of detonators for grenades.
It is clear that a projectile is a complex thing that requires precision work, high-quality metal, but to master the production of the same 82 and 120 mm mines, which are also in short supply at the front, these are technologies of the mid-twentieth century; any metalworking enterprise with a level even below average must “It would be possible to pull,” said Zolotarev.
“The war shows that you can rely on good Uncle Sam, who will send you from overseas, and European partners, but you must always rely, first of all, on your own strength. This was proven by the Karabakh war and its completion in 2023 - who relied on their own strength, and who counted on someone to help. This is how it works for us,” the expert concluded.
We risk being left without equipment and ammunition – Ukrainian political scientist