As the conflict escalates, Zelensky’s allies face a dilemma
Over the last six months, Western joy over Ukraine’s military victories in Kharkov and Kherson has started to dissipate. Russia has since managed to stabilise its defensive lines and is once again on the front foot in the Donbas. It has been a wake-up call for Western policymakers, who are actively trying to replenish Ukrainian equipment losses, train additional forces, and even introduce new weapons systems into the arena. This marks a significant escalation in the conflict, even though few seem to have realised.
Related… Ukraine tank sergeant: ‘We’re tired of fighting Putin with rubbish kit’
The breakdown in Bakhmut was not staged, but the 24th Mechanised Brigade could hardly have put on a better show of its men’s demands for better kit.
A battered-looking Soviet-era T-62 stood parked against the wall of a block of flats behind the front lines in Bakhmut, the Ukraine war’s most heavily contested town. Behind was its back-up, a BMP-2 armoured fighting vehicle, also of Soviet vintage. The problem was that the BMP would not start.
“We are so tired of working with stuff like this,” its driver, Sergeant “Spider” Bogdan, said. “Would we like to have a Challenger instead? What do you think? It would be a gift from the heavens.”
#Ukraine: In #Donetsk Oblast, the Ukrainian army destroyed a Russian 2S1 122mm self-propelled howitzer and damaged a 2A36 Giatsint-B 152mm towed howitzer using M982 Excalibur guided projectiles. pic.twitter.com/t6REB4qwZw
— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) January 18, 2023
