The defence minister of Ukraine says half of promised Western military support to the country fails to arrive on time, complicating the task of military planners and ultimately costing the lives of its soldiers.
Speaking at the Ukraine, Year 2024 forum in Kyiv, Rustem Umerov said that each delayed aid shipment meant Ukrainian troop losses and underscored Russia’s superior military might.
Commemorations to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Saturday brought expressions of continued support, new bilateral security agreements and fresh aid commitments from Ukraine’s Western allies.
But Mr Umerov said they still needed to deliver on their commitments if Ukraine was to have any chance of holding out against Russia.
“We look to the enemy: their economy is almost $US2 trillion [$3 trillion], they use up to 15 per cent official and non-official budget [funds] for the war, which constitutes over $US100 billion annually,” he said
“So basically, whenever a commitment doesn’t come on time, we lose people, we lose territory.”
Mr Umerov and Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi toured front-line combat posts earlier on Sunday amid a worsening ammunition shortage and dogged Russian attacks in the east.
They heard from front-line troops and “thoroughly analysed” the battlefield situation on their visit, Colonel-General Syrskyi said in a Telegram update.
He did not specify where exactly he and Mr Umerov went, but said that “the situation is difficult” for Ukrainian troops and “needs constant control” along many stretches of the front.
Ukraine has suffered setbacks on the battlefield, having lost the strategic eastern city of Avdiivka following intense battles this month, as military aid for Kyiv hangs in the balance in the US Congress.
An aid package worth $US61 billion promised by US President Joe Biden is being blocked by Republicans in Congress.
Mr Syrskyi earlier this month replaced Ukraine’s top military commander, Valerii Zaluzhny, in the most significant shake-up of the top brass since the start of the full-scale war, after a long-expected counteroffensive last summer failed to produce major breakthroughs.
Russia still controls roughly a quarter of the country.
Russian shelling and rocket strikes on Sunday continued to pummel Ukraine’s south and east, as local Ukrainian officials reported that at least two civilians were killed and a further eight suffered wounds in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces.
A woman was wounded and a railway station turned into a smouldering ruin amid heavy shelling in the eastern city of Kostiantynivka, according to the head of the municipal military administration.
Ukraine’s public broadcaster, Suspilne, cited local police as saying that the strikes also damaged an Orthodox church, over a dozen residential buildings and dozens of shops, a post office, schools and local government offices.
Russia and Ukraine also continued to trade nightly drone attacks, with Ukraine’s air defences shooting down 16 of 18 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched overnight by Moscow.
A Russian drone on Sunday morning struck an unspecified facility in Ukraine’s western Khmelnytskyi region, the regional military administration reported without giving details.
Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry on Sunday morning reported it had downed seven Ukrainian drones — four over the Black Sea and three over Russia’s southern Belgorod region.
It did not immediately mention any casualties or damage.
AP