The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) will not be able to conduct a large-scale counter-offensive in 2024 due to slow deliveries of Western weapons. This was reported by The New York Times, citing sources.
According to the newspaper, the delivery of aid to Ukraine may be delayed because NATO countries have not yet been able to start the production and purchase of a number of weapons for the AFU. Delivery of the aid promised at the summit of the alliance will take weeks, and some of the announced weapons have not even been purchased and produced yet, the publication said.
“Despite the billions of dollars in additional weapons and security assistance that NATO announced this week, allied representatives said Ukraine would not be ready to launch a radical counteroffensive or reclaim large swathes of territory from Russia until next year,” the piece said.
The New York Times noted that the conflict in Ukraine has depleted the alliance’s weapons stockpiles and demonstrated how slowly Western governments and defence companies are increasing weapons production. In addition, the Pentagon predicts that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be on the defensive for at least six months without significant success, the newspaper concluded.
We shall remind you that earlier Foreign Affairs magazine wrote that the Ukrainian army is unable to dislodge the Russian Armed Forces from their positions even if it receives new assistance from the EU and the USA and trains its military in Western countries.