Zelenskyy: Ukraine requested equipment for 10 brigades, but partners provided much less
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that Ukraine had requested equipment for 10 military brigades to counter Russian aggression, but Western partners had fully equipped only two and a half brigades.
Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with Sky News
Details: Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s problem lies in equipping its military with weapons and equipment, not in the number of soldiers available.
Quote: "They [partners] speak about mobilisation, but the real problem is with 10 brigades which our partners didn't equip. I asked them very much, more than one year ago, that we need to equip these brigades. We made this solution with the United States and with European allies and for today – Europe and the United States [have fully] equipped two and a half brigades."
Details: Zelenskyy pointed to "some bureaucracy, some decisions, some don't think that this is the priority" as reasons for this situation, adding that "it's always the same way during this war".
Quote: "Somebody asked me, and I don't want to tell you the position of some leaders in Europe [with such opinions] about mobilisation and etc., that ‘you need younger [people]’ and etc., and I said, ‘What do you want? Do you just want [them] to die without your weapons?’"
Details: Zelenskyy emphasised that decisions about the number of troops in Ukraine are made with the aim of preserving as many lives as possible.
"If in European or American offices there is an idea that we need to do something differently about the draft age, I want to just ask our partners to do their part of the job and we will deal with our part of the job," Zelenskyy stressed.
Background:
- On 28 November, Heorhii Tykhyi, spokesperson for Ukraine's Foreign Ministry, confirmed that discussions with Western partners have included the topic of lowering the conscription age.
- Recently, a Biden administration official told the media that the US is encouraging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its armed forces, partly by revising mobilisation laws to allow conscription from the age of 18.
- On 19 November, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan noted that while Ukraine has received substantial American military aid, it still faces challenges on the battlefield, citing mobilisation issues as a key factor.
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