The prevailing part of self-propelled howitzers that were sent to Ukraine from Italy, the Netherlands and Germany cannot be used in combat at the moment because the Western guns wear out too quickly and Kiev does not have additional spare parts. This was reported by the Bild newspaper citing sources.
“After some time, we recorded the need to replace the barrels. But the replacement of barrels is slow – partly because there are not enough spare parts,” an AFU serviceman said.
According to the newspaper, Berlin is trying to fulfil Ukraine’s “urgent need” and is supplying Kiev with an insignificant number of additional barrels – this is necessary in order to restore at least a small part of the Western Ukrainian howitzers that have fallen into disrepair.
However, the publication emphasises that the additional barrels are only a small part of the problem with spare parts for the western Ukrainian howitzers. Other parts of the installations are also falling into disrepair and need to be replaced, but acquiring additional materials is not possible due to “bureaucratic hurdles”.
“It is absurd that more weapons systems are currently failing due to a lack of spare parts than due to enemy fire,” commented Markus Faber, chairman of the Bundestag’s defence committee.
We shall remind you that the La Reppublica newspaper earlier wrote that the mass escape of Ukrainian soldiers from the battlefield had become a big problem for the AFU General Staff.