Veronika Prokhorenko20:19, 06/14/23

According to the deputy head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Russia has been stockpiling weapons for this war for 30 years, while our stocks have only been declining.

Deputy Head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Anna Malyar said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have not yet reached parity in armament with the occupiers . 

According to the official, the Russians have been preparing for war for 30 years, while Ukraine at that time was only disarming, because it was fulfilling the international obligations assigned to the state. Malyar spoke about this in an interview with Voice of America . 

“The Russians have been preparing for this for 30 years. We have been disarming – fulfilling our international obligations. They have been arming. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to reach parity in armament with them. We are not reaching this parity yet,” she said.

According to the Deputy Minister, now the Armed Forces of Ukraine are conducting both defense and offensive at the same time: the situation is different in different sectors of the front – in some places, the enemy is also “acting,” Malyar says. 

The official noted that in response to the successes of the Ukrainian army in the Bakhmut direction, the occupiers stepped up the fire from artillery and mortars. This partially hinders the advancement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Malyar notes.

At the same time, she stressed that despite such dynamics, last week the Ukrainian army moved forward by at least 6.5 km. Managed to free from the invaders more than 90 square meters. km of territories.  

The Ministry of Defense emphasized that the main needs for weapons are air defense systems, long-range weapons, ammunition, and most importantly, combat aircraft.

(C)UNIAN 2023