On the eve of the meeting of NATO defense ministers, Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine, published on his Twitter page a list of weapons that Kyiv expects to receive from the West.

As the official wrote, the Armed Forces of Ukraine require 1,000 155-mm howitzers, 300 multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), 500 tanks, 2,000 armored vehicles and 1,000 UAVs.

“I will be straightforward: in order to end the war, we need parity in heavy weapons,” Podolyak said.

Negotiations between the heads of the military departments of the member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance will be held on June 15-16 in Brussels.

Representatives of Ukraine, Georgia, Finland and Sweden are invited to the meeting.

Military assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be at the center of the agenda.

"Partners Help Needed"

The Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly complained about the lack of logistical support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine from foreign countries.

So, at the end of May, in an address to citizens following the results of the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine's foreign partners should provide it with "full assistance."

“We still need the help of partners, primarily with weapons for Ukraine.

Full help!

No exceptions, no restrictions.

Enough to win,” Zelensky said.

Earlier, during the Davos Forum on the Securing Europe panel, Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, called on foreign states to provide the Armed Forces of Ukraine with modern military products without any restrictions.

At a briefing for journalists in early June, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba also announced an acute shortage of weapons in the arsenals of the Ukrainian army.

“Some partners may get the impression that everything is more or less normal with weapons in Ukraine.

In fact, this is not so, ”the minister emphasized.

According to Kuleba, most of all, the country's army needs large-caliber artillery and MLRS.

“We still see Russia’s total superiority in artillery in the Donbass, so the signals that we communicate to partners are very simple: we are grateful to you for what you have already provided, but this is still critically insufficient to stop Russia, not to mention transition to a large, large-scale counteroffensive, and oust Russia from Ukrainian territories, ”Kuleba noted.

It is known that this spring, Western countries began to supply the Armed Forces of Ukraine with some samples of heavy weapons.

As the Pentagon reported at the end of May, the Armed Forces of Ukraine received 85 M-777 towed howitzers of 155 mm caliber.

In total, 108 such guns and 209,000 shells for them should be handed over to units of the Ukrainian army.

  • Artillery position of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

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M-777 is considered a fairly modern artillery system.

The howitzer is equipped with a digital fire control system.

The maximum firing range of the gun can exceed 30 km.

Also, Kyiv was supplied with a number of American self-propelled artillery mounts (ACS) M-109 with a firing distance of 30 km.

Another example of Western large-caliber artillery that the Kyiv regime received is the Caesar wheeled self-propelled gun developed by the French company Nexter.

Depending on the type of ammunition, the firing range of this weapon can reach 50 km.

Italy handed over to the Ukrainian army FH-70 towed howitzers with a range of 24-30 km, and Poland recently delivered Krab self-propelled guns with a firing distance of up to 40 km to its neighbor.

Also in early June, US President Joe Biden announced that, as part of the 11th military assistance package, the Armed Forces of Ukraine would receive HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems with ammunition capable of hitting targets within 80 km.

Following Washington, the leadership of Great Britain announced the transfer of the MLRS to the Kyiv regime.

From the United Kingdom, the Ukrainian army should receive M270 multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) and M31A1 ammunition for them with an effective range of more than 70 km.

MLRS are transferred to Kyiv on the condition of their non-use on the territory of Russia.

Formally, the Ukrainian authorities agreed to these demands, but Moscow does not believe such promises.

Small batches

As an expert of the Association of Military Political Scientists, retired colonel Andrey Koshkin, noted in an interview with RT, despite the impressive range of heavy weapons transferred, the volume of equipment supplied by the Armed Forces of Ukraine is still small.

According to official data from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, in total, the Armed Forces of Ukraine received more than 150 artillery systems of 155 mm caliber and more than fifty other large-caliber guns.

According to Koshkin, if the military department of Ukraine does not greatly inflate the real numbers, then the artillery transferred by the West is not enough for a counteroffensive in the Donbass.

In this regard, the expert fears that the Kyiv regime may use NATO complexes to shell settlements.

  • The consequences of the shelling of Donetsk from the MLRS of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

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  • © Sergey Averin

“Supplies come in small batches, and large units cannot be armed with them.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine do not have the resources to turn the tide at the front or at least inflict a serious counterattack, but they can really fire at settlements within the reach of the artillery supplied by the West, ”Koshkin stated.

Recall that in recent days the Armed Forces of Ukraine have been massively shelling residential areas and the center of Donetsk from the Grad and Uragan MLRS.

Civilians become victims of strikes.

In an interview with RT, military expert Nikita Buranov also expressed the opinion that NATO does not supply the Armed Forces with a large number of artillery systems.

In addition, according to the analyst, most likely, an insignificant part of Western-made heavy weapons reaches the front line.

“Firstly, the NATO countries do not transfer really new equipment to Kyiv.

These are, as a rule, weapons from warehouses, and at the moment there are not so many given to Ukraine.

Secondly, after entering the territory of Ukraine, any military cargoes become legitimate targets of the RF Armed Forces.

Thus, in fact, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have a very limited arsenal of Western offensive weapons,” Buranov argues.

From the data of the Ministry of Defense, it follows that the Russian army regularly delivers pinpoint strikes on NATO weapons deployment facilities.

Thus, in the report of the military department of the Russian Federation of June 13, it was reported that air-launched missiles had hit a large number of “weapons and military equipment delivered for the group of Ukrainian nationalists, including from the United States and European countries.”

In addition, Western artillery pieces are very successfully destroyed by the NM of the DPR and LPR and the RF Armed Forces on the front line.

The report of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation dated June 13 reported the defeat of 63 firing positions of the artillery units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including seven MLRS.

Insurmountable Differences

According to Nikita Buranov, the West is unable to significantly increase the supply of large-caliber artillery and multiple launch rocket systems to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, thereby satisfying the requirements of the Kyiv regime.

“Those requests that were formulated in the office of the President of Ukraine, they, of course, exceed the capabilities that the United States and its allies currently have.

If the Kyiv regime does not lower the bar of its demands, then the disagreements with NATO on the volume of what is called military assistance cannot be overcome, ”Buranov says.

According to the expert, Western countries do not want to "risk" by transferring equipment from army units to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, especially modern ones.

Along with this, the North Atlantic Alliance is looking back at Moscow's tough position, not wanting to exacerbate relations with the Russian Federation too much.

  • ACS Caesar in the hands of the Armed Forces

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Andrey Koshkin also drew attention to the reluctance of Western countries to "empty their own warehouses too much and spend money financially."

In his opinion, NATO states are often "reluctant to part" with 155 mm howitzers, drones and armored vehicles.

“Gratuitous deliveries of heavy weapons to Ukraine are close to reaching the limit.

In addition, it is unrealistic for the West to send really large consignments of military cargo to Ukraine due to the lack of sea communications and Russian strikes on the enemy’s railway infrastructure,” Koshkin said.

In addition, as the interlocutor of RT suggested, NATO is beginning to realize that the material and technical assistance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is for the most part destroyed before combat use.

“The West cannot ignore the results of the constant pinpoint strikes of the Russian army, undermining the resources and reserves of the Ukrainian troops.

I think that over time, NATO military assistance to Kyiv will become more and more demonstrative, symbolic, ”Koshkin concluded.