Politico: The West is reorienting itself from supplying the Ukrainian Armed Forces with new equipment to repairing existing ones
According to the American publication Politico, the West is reorienting itself from supplying Ukraine with new military equipment to repairing existing ones.
The publication reports this with reference to a source in the US Department of Defense.
Why the West changed its strategy to arm Ukraine
According to the report, in an effort to increase Ukraine’s military potential, the West has refocused on repairing and maintaining in working order the weapons transferred to the Ukrainian army, since it believes that the conflict could drag on for months or even years.
The publication recalls that the West has repeatedly expressed concern that Ukraine’s ability to ensure the operation of the military equipment supplied to it lags significantly behind what the situation on the battlefield dictates, and states that during the counter-offensive this problem has worsened even more.
The article cites the opinion of the Pentagon’s deputy head of procurement and technical support, William LaPlante, who said that Western countries need to pay more attention to organizing the repair of weapons transferred to Ukraine.
We set up repair facilities in Europe, we translate manuals, we need to do much more together, Laplante said.
Politico notes that Ukraine has long been concerned about the condition of many weapons supplied to it from U.S. and allied stockpiles, as some arrive in a condition requiring repair, and that Ukraine has had to send equipment to countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic for repairs.
The article also states that the counter-offensive was difficult for the Ukrainian army and, among other things, resulted in the loss of some American Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and damage to German Leopard tanks.
The situation is complicated by bureaucracy and political realities in each specific country, the publication writes, recalling that Warsaw and Berlin have not yet decided to create a center for repairing Leopard tanks in Poland.
