Reporting

Ukraine: “We lack evacuation tanks, combat vehicles, artillery, ammunition”

Audio 01:24

A Russian BMP 2 recovered and repaired by the 92nd Brigade.

Kupyansk region.

© Boris Vichith / RFI

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

Visiting Kiev, the US president promised a new delivery of essential equipment, including artillery ammunition, anti-armour systems and air surveillance radars.

After weeks of hesitation by Ukraine's allies, who feared an escalation of the conflict, new Western-made tanks are also on the way.

Help that soldiers in the field are eagerly awaiting.

In the Kupyansk region, for example, in the northeast.

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With our special correspondents in the Koupiansk region,

This is the trophy the 92nd Brigade likes to show off: an armored fighting vehicle that the Russians had to abandon on the battlefield.

Jacket stained with motor oil, blackened work gloves, the soldier with the code name "the Pole" worked to restore it.

It's a BMP 2, an infantry fighting vehicle that was stolen from the Russkofs.

We picked him up 500 meters from the contact line.

For a month, we fixed it.

It will be useful to us because we need weapons.

We lack evacuation tanks, combat vehicles, artillery and ammunition.

Ammunition stocks are not inexhaustible, underlines Victor Artiomov, 49, head of the unit.

Opposite, he explains, the Russians seem to have much more reservations.

They shoot at us at night, with their tanks, their Grad rocket launchers, they shoot anywhere.

While we don't shoot, what's the point of shooting in fields at night?

In the morning, our drones go into action, they spot their equipment and then we send two or three shells to eliminate it.

If they fire thirty shells in an hour, we only fire three.

We save while they shoot without counting.

To scare us, perhaps.

In the distance, a few rare explosions are heard.

The Ukrainian line continues to hold, underlines the head of the unit.

► To read also: Ukraine: near Kupiansk, "at the moment, we are in a defensive position"

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