‘It harms us’: Ukraine says half of Western arms delivered late
- Fifty per cent of commitments are not delivered on time, said Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who also said Russia had fired over 8,000 missiles at his nation
- As the war against Moscow enters its third year, the minister said delayed aid means Kyiv will ‘lose people, lose territories’
Half of Western military aid to Kyiv is delivered later than promised, delays that hobble Kyiv’s ability to defend itself against Russian attacks and cost Ukrainian lives, the country’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said on Sunday.
Ukraine, which is struggling with an ammunition shortage, has for months said that Western aid is too slow to reach it and that the hold-ups have real consequences as the war against Russia enters its third year.
“At the moment, commitment does not constitute delivery,” Umerov said during a forum dedicated to the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
“Fifty per cent of commitments are not delivered on time,” he added.
Europe has admitted it will fall far short of a plan to deliver more than one million artillery shells to the country by March, instead hoping to complete the shipments by the end of the year.
Umerov said such delays put Ukraine at a further disadvantage “in the mathematics of war” against Russia, which the West has said is increasingly building a war economy.