The newspaper quotes a Ukrainian official who believes that Western countries have promised to provide the country with only a symbolic number of tanksWASHINGTON, March 14.
/tass/. The quality of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) has significantly decreased over the past year due to losses of trained military personnel and lack of ammunition, which raises doubts about Kiev's ability to conduct an offensive operation. This is stated in an article published on Monday in The Washington Post.
"The quality of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which was once considered a significant advantage over Russia, has fallen due to the losses suffered over the year, as a result of which the most experienced military are no longer on the battlefield. In this regard, some Ukrainian officials question Kiev's readiness to implement the long-awaited spring offensive," the article says.
The article notes that "the influx of inexperienced conscripts to make up for losses has changed the characteristics of the Ukrainian forces, which also face a shortage of ammunition, including artillery shells and mortar mines." Kiev, in particular, has lost "many junior officers who have undergone American training over the past nine years."
The publication contains comments from the Ukrainian military, who noted the acute shortage of experienced soldiers. "Such gloomy assessments spread palpable, though mostly unspoken pessimism from the front line to the corridors of power in <...> Kiev. Ukraine's inability to carry out the advertised offensive would entail criticism of the United States and its European allies for having delayed deepening training programs and transferring combat vehicles, including Bradley and Leopard tanks, for too long, and [Ukrainian] troops have not weakened," the newspaper notes.
Resources for the offensive
As emphasized in the article, US officials told reporters that "the situation on the battlefield may not fully reflect the position of the Ukrainian forces, since Kiev is preparing the military for the upcoming counteroffensive separately and purposefully deters them from participating in current battles, including in defense" of Artemovsk (Ukrainian name - Bakhmut). The publication also quotes the head of the office of the Ukrainian president Andrei Ermak. "We have not exhausted our potential," he argued. "I think in any war, the time comes for the training of new personnel, this is what is happening now," Yermak added.
The article quotes the words of a Ukrainian official who believes that Western countries promised to provide Kiev with only a symbolic number of tanks. He also expressed doubts that Ukraine has sufficient resources to carry out a counteroffensive. "We don't have people or weapons," the official said.
According to the US official, the American side recommended Kiev to withdraw forces from Artemovsk back in January.
The German official cited data according to which the AFU lost about 120 thousand people killed and wounded. "They don't share this information with us because they don't trust us," he added, speaking about Kiev.
