“A few days ago, the enemy’s advantage in terms of ammunition fired was 6 to 1,” he lamented Friday in a rare interview published in the Ukrainian agency Ukrinform.
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“Defense forces carry out tasks across the vast front line with few, if any, weapons or ammunition”, declared the Ukrainian commander-in-chief in a rare interview given to the Ukrainian agency Ukrinform and broadcast on Friday March 29. Oleksandr Syrsky once again called on Westerners to deliver “faster” faced with a Russian army having increased the use of its air forces.
The man who took charge of the Ukrainian army in February, after the dismissal of his very popular predecessor, Valery Zalouzhny, judged the situation “tense” in places. In particular, he noted “constant bombing” and a lack of ammunition having forced his men to withdraw from Avdiïvka, a fortress town recently conquered by the Russians in the Donetsk region. “A few days ago, the enemy’s advantage in ammunition fired was 6 to 1”he lamented.
The Ukrainian army is struggling to enlist new recruits
With more weapons and air defense systems, Ukraine would have “without a doubt” been able to keep some of the positions it lost, he assured. Echoing comments from other Ukrainian officials, he called on Western allies to deliver munitions and weapons “faster and in sufficient quantities”.
Oleksandr Syrsky also affirmed that the figure of 500,000 additional soldiers for the army, mentioned by President Volodymyr Zelensky in December, had been revised downwards. “After reviewing our internal resources and clarifying the combat composition of the armed forces, this figure was significantly reduced”, he said. The Ukrainian army is struggling to enlist new recruits to replace those who have been at the front for a long time and military recruitment is the subject of a thorny social debate.
