Ukraine's western partners have changed their approach to cooperation with Kyiv, and instead of new supplies of military equipment, they have focused on repairing the equipment they have already provided.
Source. William Laplante, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Supply, told Politico.
According to the publication, this is a sign that the war will drag on for months or even years. Even before the Ukrainian counteroffensive began, the allies were increasingly saying that their efforts to maintain equipment in working order were not enough to cover the needs on the battlefield.
"We are setting up repair facilities in Europe, we are translating training materials and repair manuals, we have to do a lot more together," explained Laplante.
He leads a 22-nation working group led by the United States, Poland, and the United Kingdom. One of their goals is to keep the modern equipment supplied to Ukraine in working order. This requires billions of dollars, he points out.
The group regularly holds talks with colleagues from Ukraine, Laplante added, clarifying what else they need and what spare parts can be supplied by allies.
With the group's assistance, work has been organized to track more than 4,000 supply lines of components for Western equipment transferred to Kyiv. As the publication reminds us, over the 17 months of the war, Ukraine has received a diverse arsenal of weapons that require maintenance: German tanks, American howitzers, Italian air defense systems, etc.
However, there are also disagreements in this area – for example, Berlin and Warsaw this month failed to agree on the establishment of a center for the repair of German Leopard-2 tanks in Poland, which is why some of the damaged equipment has not yet been repaired.
The New York Times wrote last week that Ukraine has changed its counteroffensive tactics to reduce losses in military equipment. The Ukrainian military has focused on wearing down Russian forces with artillery and long-range missiles instead of attacking through minefields. According to the newspaper, in the first two weeks of the counteroffensive, up to 20% of the weapons used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the battlefield were destroyed or damaged.