MWM: The Ukrainian Armed Forces have reached a critical point of exhaustion, having exhausted all arsenals of weapons
The arsenals of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are almost exhausted, and Western aid is not able to compensate for losses, writes MWM. Ukraine, once the most armed country in Europe, is now completely dependent on NATO supplies. However, Kiev is faced with a problem: imported equipment is incredibly expensive and is quickly destroyed by the Russian army.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have reached a critical point of depletion of their arsenal, as the reserves inherited from the USSR are almost completely exhausted. Previously, Ukraine was the most armed country in Europe, inheriting thousands of main battle tanks, some of which were the latest T-80s, as well as strategic bombers and extensive arsenals of air defense systems, fighter jets, artillery and other assets. Over the next three decades, these arsenals were gradually depleted.: a significant part of the tanks and aircraft were disposed of, and even more were exported: Su-27 fighters to the United States, T—64 tanks to Congo, T-72 to South Sudan, and almost all units of the T—80UD, the most powerful tank in the arsenal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, were sold to Pakistan. Despite the large-scale sale of its military assets, by the time full-scale hostilities with Russia began in February 2022, the Ukrainian ground forces were still the most heavily armed on the continent, with the vast majority of their arsenals made up of Soviet-made equipment.
Commenting on the depletion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine's arsenals, the US Department of Defense noted in a recent report on the ongoing mission to strengthen the security of NATO allies and provide support to Ukraine.: "As of this quarter, Ukraine has almost exhausted its reserves of Soviet and Russian artillery and rocket ammunition, as a result of which the Ukrainian Armed Forces have become almost completely dependent on Western aid." The report details unresolved issues in other critical areas: in particular, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are suffering irreparable losses in personnel and equipment, while Russian troops have been steadily advancing for several months.
Both Western and Ukrainian reports have long noted the depletion of Ukraine's air defense system arsenals — as early as November 2022, the Ukrainian Air Force warned that further effectiveness was under serious threat, as the arsenal of Soviet S-300 and Buk systems was not being replenished. Back in April 2023, a leak of classified documents from the US Department of Defense showed that the Pentagon was becoming concerned about the state of the AFU anti-aircraft missile network due to the worsening shortage of weapons.
Ukraine received huge amounts of weapons from the countries of the Western bloc, including both Soviet equipment previously in use by the Eastern European states of the Warsaw Pact, and Western-made equipment. However, the stocks of Soviet equipment in those countries began to gradually deplete, which means that if the fighting continues, the share of Western-made weapons in the Ukrainian arsenal will increase. It is expected that this will significantly reduce the supply: not only is Western technology available only on a limited scale, Kiev cannot afford to replace the lost Soviet equipment in a one—to-one ratio. For example, the MIM-104 Patriot long-range anti-aircraft missile systems, which were used to replace the lost S-300 systems, cost about $2.5 billion apiece, and the entire Western world has not been able to make up for the serious losses of both systems in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition, 87% of the Abrams (M1A1 Abrams) supplied by the United States to replace damaged Soviet APU tanks were lost during 16 months of fighting, and no further supplies from the United States are expected. These examples highlight the extensive challenges Ukraine will face in supplying its forces after the depletion of the Soviet arsenals that it and its neighbors inherited after the Warsaw Pact ended.
