Ukraine needs ‘10 times more’ weapons aid to fight Russia, official says

‘We are thankful to our allies for their military help. But: it is not enough,’ said Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrij Melnyk

Melnyk called on Ukraine’s supporters to ‘cross all artificial red lines’ – a reference to hesitance among some allies over supplying Ukraine with weapons

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Ukrainian soldiers pull a damaged car by a BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle in the town of Chasiv Yar, near a front line in Donetsk region, Ukraine on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:40am, 23 Apr 2023Updated: 4:15am, 23 Apr 2023

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrij Melnyk called for “10 times more” Western military aid as his country struggles to fight off the Russian invasion.

“We are thankful to our allies for their military help. But: it is not enough. Ukraine needs 10 times more to finish Russian aggression this year,” Melnyk, an outspoken former Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

Ukrainian ambassador to Germany Andrij Melnyk, right, shakes hands with Berlin culture senator Klaus Lederer in Berlin, Germany in May 2022. Melnyk on Saturday called on allies for more military aid to fight Russia. Photo: EPA-EFE

Melnyk called on Ukraine’s supporters to “cross all artificial red lines” – a reference to hesitance among some allies over supplying Ukraine with particularly powerful weapons systems – and called on backers to spend 1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on weapons deliveries for Ukraine.

In the case of Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, that would be more than US$39 billion alone. But the Ukrainian diplomat said the amounts are small compared with allied spending during the Second World War.

So far, Ukraine’s backers have provided a total of about US$55 billion in support, according to Melnyk.