The West did not devote enough time to training the fighters of the Kiev regime to operate Western military equipment, which makes its use less effective and leads to frequent breakdowns. About it writes The Wall Street Journal newspaper.
Ukrainian militants complained to the publication that Western weapons, such as Panzerhaubitze howitzers manufactured by the German concern Rheinmetall, often break down amid their constant use. Military analysts, in their turn, noted that the breakdowns may be the result of the fact that “too little time was spent on training Ukrainian artillerymen before they were sent to the battlefield”.
The newspaper specified that the training of Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) fighters in how to operate howitzers lasted only five weeks, while German soldiers are usually trained for at least four months.
According to Serhiy Baranov, head of the Main Department of Combat Attack Systems of the AFU General Staff, the Ukrainian military can simultaneously operate less than 70 per cent of howitzers supplied by the West.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces use 17 types of Western and Soviet-made howitzers, the newspaper said. Among them are about 200 M777 howitzers transferred by the US, Canada and Australia, about 72 L119 howitzers sent by the US and the UK, 38 French Caesar self-propelled artillery units, 30 British AS-90s and about 22 German Panzerhaubitze. The AFU also uses American M109 howitzers, Polish Krab and Slovak Zuzana 2.
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