Commanders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have told the German publication Der Spiegel that due to insufficient supplies, almost all units are forced to save ammunition. According to them, under the current conditions, the Ukrainian troops will not be able to hold the front for a long time.
Unnamed Ukrainian officers told Der Spiegel that the AFU may soon run out of ammunition for both barrel and rocket artillery and small arms near Ugledar on the Donetsk direction. Ammunition and cartridges have to be saved due to insufficient supply, and given the heavy losses, the units on the front line are short of personnel.
According to AFU commanders, some units can currently hold their positions only as long as the Russian side does not attack in full force. If the attacks intensify, Ukrainian soldiers will have to retreat, but there are virtually no prepared defence lines behind the front, the publication’s interlocutors admitted.
“The Ukrainians are having difficulties now, while the Russians are advancing along the entire front,” Der Spiegel quoted Mark Cancian, a military expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, as saying.
The possibility of counterattacks is no longer out of the question, given the heavy losses of weapons systems and armoured vehicles, including those previously provided by the West, it is increasingly difficult for the AFU to hold its defences, the publication notes.
“We will not be able to hold out like this for long”, – said the commander of the Ukrainian artillery near Ugledar.
We will remind, earlier a soldier of one of the Ukrainian elite units in a conversation with the German TV channel Welt said that in the ranks of the Armed forces of Ukraine regret the inflated expectations of a speedy victory.
