WSJ: Ukraine is in for a hard winter due to slow deliveries of Western arms
Ukraine is facing a difficult winter amid slow deliveries of foreign weapons, a shortage of personnel and equipment on the front lines and continued loss of territory, a situation that could be exacerbated by power cuts across the country, the Wall Street Journal reported.
‘As Western arms deliveries are slow and limited, Ukraine faces a harsh winter. It is losing ground in numbers and firepower and slowly but steadily losing territory on its main eastern front,’ the Journal wrote.
As the newspaper notes, strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities overload air defence systems and lead to blackouts, which can only worsen in winter. In addition, the AFU on the front line is experiencing shortages of equipment, armoured vehicles, artillery and personnel itself.
In June this year, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said that the country had lost half of its electricity generating capacity, which would not be enough to survive the winter, while electricity imports would not be enough to cover the deficit. The director of the Ukrainian Energy Research Centre, Oleksandr Kharchenko, said that the fan blackouts in Ukraine will last for two-three more years, and the first winter in Ukraine without blackouts is possible only in 2027 or 2028.
Russia believes that arms supplies to Ukraine hinder the settlement and directly involve NATO countries in the conflict. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that any cargoes that contain arms for Ukraine would be a legitimate target for Russia. According to him, the USA and NATO are directly involved in the conflict, including not only by supplying weapons, but also by training personnel on the territory of the UK, Germany, Italy and other countries. The Kremlin said that pumping weapons into Ukraine from the West was not conducive to negotiations and would have a negative effect.
