Ukraine assures that half of promised Western weapons are delivered late

Half Western weapons promised à kyiv are delivered late, regretted Sunday the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, whose country is urging its allies to do so. send weapons and ammunition to avoid human losses and defeats against the Russians.

“At present, a commitment is not synonymous with delivery, 50% of (these) commitments are not delivered on time,” Roustem Oumerov said at a forum in Kiev dedicated to the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Because of these delays, “we are losing people, we are losing territories”, added the minister.

The Ukrainian army, faced with an extremely difficult situation on the front, has just withdrawn from its fortress town of Avdiïvka (East) after four months of tough fighting, citing lack of men and ammunition.

And Russia, confident despite the heavy human cost of the war, is pushing ever harder on the Southern and Eastern fronts, without however obtain a major breakthrough.

The Western allies, whose support is essential for Kiev, have been reluctant in recent months to validate new budgetary envelopes.

A Ukrainian soldier boards a Bradley fighting vehicle near Avdiivka, Donetsk region, February 11, 2024 © AFP – Genya SAVILOV

Aid of 60 billion dollars is blocked in the American Congress, mired in political divisions between Republicans and Democrats, and that of the European Union has fallen behind schedule, even if it was finally validated in February.

Despite these worrying signals, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmygal said he was convinced that the United States “will not abandon” Kiev to Russia and will end up approving the aid.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly urged his Western allies in recent days to deliver military assistance more quickly, calling in particular for ammunition and more defense systems air and combat aircraft.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris on February 16, 2024 © POOL – Thibault Camus

“You know very well what we need to protect our skies, to strengthen our land army, what we need to sustain and continue our successes at sea, and you know perfectly well that we have “We need this in time, and we're counting on you,” he said at a virtual G7 meeting on Saturday, the second anniversary of the Russian invasion.

– “Martyrized” –

The Ukrainian president also estimated that delays in arms deliveries had contributed to the failure of Kiev's counter-offensive in the summer of 2023.

“L “Last year, during the counter-offensive, we had a lot of very useful things, a lot of very important things, but not all of them arrived on time”, he explained on Friday.

The head of German diplomacy Annalena Baerbock, visiting southern Ukraine, said that we should not “minimize this aid (from Ukraine's allies) as being in vain”.

“It saves lives every day”, she insisted from the city of Mykolaiv, seeing it as proof that we must “continue to provide it “.

The day before, however, she had recognized that Ukraine lacked weapons to defend itself, particularly long-range weapons.

The head of German diplomacy Annalena Baerbock, February 23, 2024 in New York © AFP – Charly TRIBALLEAU

Kiev has long asked Berlin to equip it with Taurus, one of the most modern and effective missiles in the German Air Force.

Pope Francis spoke on Sunday of “the martyred Ukrainian people”, calling for a “diplomatic solution to be found in search of a just and lasting peace”.

Strikes continue on Ukrainian territory, targeted daily by Russian missiles and drones.

During the night from Saturday to Sunday, an attack on Kostiantynivka (east) injured one person and damaged numerous civilian buildings, including a train station, shops and residential buildings, according to the national police.

In Nikopol , in the south of the country, a Russian drone dropped explosives on a car, killing the 57-year-old man who was inside, said the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serguiï Lyssak.

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