Ambassador to Germany calls delays in military assistance main reason for slow counteroffensive

Ukraine's Ambassador to Germany Oleksii Makeiev has said that delays in the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine are the reason why the current counteroffensive by the Ukrainian defence forces is not meeting expectations in terms of its pace.

Source: Makeiev, in an interview with public radio Deutschlandfunk, fragments of which were published by the DPA news agency on Saturday; European Pravda 

Details: The ambassador pointed out that hesitant military support from Western partners is one of the reasons for the difficulties Ukraine has been facing in its counteroffensive.

"Russia had time to build barricades," Makeiev said.

He added that "training and equipping" Ukrainian assault brigades took a long time. These brigades, he said, are now fully equipped with Western weapons and ammunition.

Makeiev also mentioned the debate in Germany over the supply of infantry fighting vehicles and anti-aircraft systems, noting that he was conducting "very pragmatic and substantive negotiations" with the German government on the supply of long-range Taurus missiles.

In addition, the diplomat stressed that Ukraine does not control the skies over its territory, which is why the supply of F-16 fighter jets is crucial to it.

Background: Last week, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba addressed criticism of the pace of the Armed Forces of Ukraine offensive in the media, calling for patience and continued assistance to Kyiv.

At the same time, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the Group of Seven states were aware of the long-term nature of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine and were ready to support Kyiv for as long as necessary.

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