Mr. Zelensky: The world does not have enough weapons to help Ukraine deal with Russia

Ông Zelensky: Thế giới không đủ vũ khí giúp Ukraine đối phó Nga - 1 — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Photo: Politico).

In an interview with the New York Times at a press conference in Davos on January 18, President Zelensky said that the Ukrainian military is short of drones and artillery shells. According to him, the lack of ammunition is hindering Ukraine's efforts to achieve "certain goals" in the current conflict with Russia.

He also admitted that meeting the needs of the Ukrainian army is not easy. "The output of all companies producing 155mm artillery shells is not enough to meet the artillery war in Ukraine," he said.

"The current world production of weapons, such as artillery shells, is not enough for the Ukrainian army to withstand a war with Russia," the Ukrainian leader said.

He added that even the one million drones he said Ukraine would produce by 2024 would not be enough to give them an edge over Russia.

However, Mr. Zelensky still called on the US and its allies to continue supplying ammunition to Kiev. He explained that without foreign weapons, Ukraine would be disadvantaged on the battlefield, because it was suffering from a large shortage of artillery shells and would not be able to cope with Russian ballistic missile attacks. This, the Ukrainian leader warned, would eventually lead to a "major crisis for the whole of Europe."

His comments came after Ukraine's Minister of Strategic Industries Alexander Kamyshin said last week that no matter how much production is increased, the country will never be able to meet all its military needs on its own. "Our need for weapons today is greater than the total production of the US and EU countries combined."

The 155mm shells mentioned by Mr. Zelensky are the standard ammunition used by NATO artillery. Previously, NATO has provided Kiev with a variety of Western-made artillery guns, such as the US-made M777 and M109, the German Panzerhaubitze, the French Caesar and the Polish Krab.

The European Union (EU) pledged to provide 1 million artillery shells to Ukraine earlier this year, but so far only 300,000 have been delivered.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov admitted yesterday that the shortage of ammunition is currently an extremely urgent problem for the Ukrainian armed forces.

In a related development, AFP reported that a group of countries supporting Ukraine have unanimously approved a plan to form an artillery alliance led by the US and France. The alliance has mobilized 50 countries to join in providing artillery shells to Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly warned that the West's continued provision of weapons to Ukraine will only prolong the conflict and risk spreading it, while failing to change the situation.

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