Ukrainian Defense Minister: counteroffensive will begin when Ukrainian troops complete training on western weapons
Deliveries of Western weapons to the Ukrainian army are dependent on the duration of the training of the Ukrainian military. Therefore, the Ukrainian Armed Forces will go on a counteroffensive only after the necessary training of personnel, said the Ukrainian Defense Minister, Oleksiy Reznikov, after the meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.
"As for the weapons, the deadlines have been announced. All the timelines of supplying them to Ukraine are dependent, first of all, on the duration of training. That is, the weapons can not just be shipped like that. Our crews, whether artillery, tank, Bradley, Mastiffs, or Strykers, must prepare. And not just as a single crew, but also as part of a whole unit, for example, a tank battalion, and so on. Because their mission is to fulfill the task set by the Ukrainian General Staff. And this task is aimed, first of all, at the de-occupation of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. It takes time. TIt will take a few months before we're fully prepared. And then, by decision of the General Staff, certain events will take place," the Defense Minister explained.
He noted that negotiations on providing combat aircraft to Ukraine continue.
"As for aircraft, the discussion continues. It has been raised, it was raised before and will continue to be raised. Today, I will have more than one bilateral meeting, and tomorrow there will also be many meetings on the sidelines of Ramstein, we will communicate with the defense ministers of individual NATO countries. But time will tell what the main aviation platform will be," Reznikov emphasized.
He assured that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have enough ammunition to repel the upcoming Russian offensive, since Ukrainian officials "do not just sit idly."
"We have long organized the supply of ammunition from NATO countries as part of military-technical assistance and concluded contracts for 2023 to ensure uninterrupted supplies. Therefore, there are and there will deliveries," Reznikov said.
"At the same time, when there is a war, there is always something missing. But it is impossible to say that the situation is critical, and we will not have enough weapons to repel the offensives. We are ready to repel the offensive. But the more ammunition there is, the better, and our partners know this. We also talked about this today at the Ramstein meeting," he added.