Ukraine struggles to deal with Russia when Western aid is "like salt in the ocean"

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The West has pledged to provide a lot of heavy weapons, but the slow delivery rate makes Ukraine not have enough equipment to cope with the fierce fighting that has lasted for nearly four months.


At an outpost in Eastern Ukraine, dozens of mortar shells were piled up. However, the commander of the Kiev side Mykhailo Strebizh admitted that the soldiers under him are under intense fire from Russia and that the amount of equipment this unit has is only enough to respond to the opponent in 4 hours. .


Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government has repeatedly admitted that Western support for Ukraine is still not enough and not timely in the context of the Donbass war being "tense like a string".


Kiev says it loses about 200 troops a day in the eastern region while Russian forces already control much of the Donbass.


The United States is the most generous party when it comes to pledging billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine to deal with Russia in recent months, but experts say that the delivery of these weapons has not caught up with Ukraine's needs on the battlefield.


Russia dominates in weapons


Experts say that the root cause of Ukraine's delay in weapons deliveries is partly due to the operating mechanism of the Western defense industry.


The industry cannot produce weapons fast enough to both supply Ukraine with weapons and ensure the West has enough weapons to defend itself against potential adversaries.


"We are transitioning from peacetime to war. Peacetime means the production rate of weapons is low. If you want to speed up production, you have to build infrastructure. This is a huge defense industry challenge. ", expert Francois Heisbourg from the Organization for Strategic Studies (France) commented.


For example, over the past months, the US has sent Ukraine so many Javelin and Stinger anti-tank missiles that Washington says it creates a "hole" in the US arsenal. It is estimated that the US will take several more years to fill it. Similar to other countries when they are also facing a shortage of weapons after giving aid to Ukraine.


The Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany said last week that the United States had transferred to Ukraine half of the weapons it pledged, while Germany's figure was a third. Poland and the UK have both delivered on most of their commitments.


Many Ukrainian servicemen said they did not have the firepower to deal with Russia's overwhelming position.


Earlier this month, Ukraine's Ambassador to Spain Serhii Phoreltsev thanked Madrid, which sent Kiev a 200-ton military aid package in April. However, Ukraine said that the amount of ammunition in the package was only enough for about 2 hours of fighting.


Soldier Volodymyr Demchenko thanked the American aid weapons: "Nice guns and 120 rounds of ammunition for each." But he said, it was only enough for 15 minutes of fighting.


Part of the problem lies with the Ukrainian forces themselves because the country has traditionally used most of the equipment from the Soviet era and soldiers need to be trained to use NATO-standard weapons before being delivered.


So, of the $1 billion that the US recently pledged to aid Ukraine, only about a third of the weapons will be delivered quickly to Ukraine, and the rest will be transferred gradually over the long term. The US commitment included 18 howitzers and 36,000 shells, in response to Ukraine's call for aid for long-range weapons.


However, these numbers are "like salt in the water" with what Ukraine says it needs to be able to change the situation against Russia in the Donbass: 1,000 155 mm cannons, 300 multiple launch rocket systems, 500 tanks, 2,000 armored vehicles and 1,000 drones.


In addition, another problem facing Ukraine is that Russia regularly fires fire on Western arsenals that aid Kiev with high-precision weapons. This is also considered the reason why Ukraine lacks weapons deployed on the front lines.


Ukraine learns to adapt


Ben Barry, an expert from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said: "What Ukraine has to do is launch a counter-offensive operation in response to Russian fire. To do this, Ukraine needs precision weapons. with a high rate of fire and a range that allows it to be out of range of an opponent's counterattack. The Ukrainians are saying that they don't have enough long-range missiles to suppress the Russian artillery. I think they are right."


Now, to adapt to the immediate reality, Ukrainian servicemen must use the "fire and withdraw" tactic, that is, after firing, they must move immediately before Russia can detect the main position. exact and counterattack.


Ukraine is still trying to make the most of the weapons it has received, especially the existing NATO weapons.


A Ukrainian soldier told AP that the US M777 howitzer system supplied to Kiev is having good combat effectiveness with high accuracy, fast fire rate, and ease of use. Although these systems are still in limited numbers, they help to raise the morale of Ukrainian servicemen as well as "depress the opponent because they see the effectiveness of the weapon".


Denys Sharapov, Ukraine's deputy defense minister in charge of arms procurement, admits that the actual aid Kiev receives from the West currently only meets 10-15% of the country's needs. He noted the huge challenge facing Ukraine: a 1,000km front line between the two sides.

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