One of America’s top news outlets paints a horrific outlook for the Ukrainian war effort. Ukraine’s forces are struggling even to hold territory. Kiev is running out of men and weapons to throw into the fight. Russian forces are now advancing in several positions.
“Ukraine’s military prospects are looking bleak. Western military aid is no longer assured at the same levels as years past. Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive in the south is over, having failed to meet any of its objectives,” the outlet reports, “And now, Russian troops are on the attack.”
The New York Times reports that Kiev is in a “perilous position” as Ukraine runs out of arms and soldiers. “Ukrainian soldiers are exhausted by long stretches of combat and shorter rest periods. The ranks, thinned by mounting casualties, are only being partly replenished, often with older and poorly trained recruits.” It continues, “The shortage of troops is only one part of the problem. The other and currently more pressing issue is Ukraine’s dwindling ammunition reserves as continued Western supplies remain anything but certain.”
The outlet notes that Ukraine’s manpower and arms shortage has worsened since the summer counteroffensive. During the operations, Ukraine’s Western backers pressured Kiev to order its forces to use high-casuality tactics against entrenched Russian defensive lines. The result was Ukraine suffering massive losses and netting minimal territorial gains.
Now, Ukrainian forces lack the ammunition and numerical advantages that Russia had this summer. Kiev has begun to lose territory in the south and east of Ukraine.
On the frontlines, Ukrainian forces are in need of artillery rounds. The Times reports that “Ukrainian commanders now have to ration their ammunition, not knowing whether every new shipment might be their last.”
Kiev has attempted to utilize small drones to replace artillery, but the small explosives are futile against reinforced Russian positions and armored vehicles. President Zelensky said Ukraine is in desperate need of air defenses. He explained that Kiev’s “warehouses are empty.”
Washington has depleted the funding Congress has authorized for arming Ukraine. The White House has requested that the Capitol pass a bill that includes over $60 billion in funding for the war in Ukraine. However, Republicans in Congress have held up the legislation, demanding concessions from the Biden administration on immigration policy. It is unclear when the deadlock will be resolved.
A second issue for Ukraine’s future arms supplies is Western stockpiles are becoming depleted, and Israel is placing further demands on the US weapons depots. Earlier this month, a senior UK defense official told the Times of London that the UK’s weapons stockpiles are so diminished that the UK had “nothing” left. While Ukrainian soldiers on the frontlines currently go days without receiving shells to fire at Russia, the US provided Israel with tens of thousands of 155 mm artillery rounds.
