Two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, any notion of “war weariness” will only serve the Kremlin’s interests and weaken the Western support Kyiv relies on to counter Putin’s army. However, in order to continue the defense, the Ukrainian troops need new and latest Western weapons systems, noted the ambassador of Ukraine in Bucharest, who also clarified what types of weapons Ukraine has on the list of priorities.

• “We are now approaching two years into the war, and we see that this conflict continues and is as deadly as it was at the beginning. For this reason, it is necessary to be fully aware that we cannot afford this “war fatigue”. I think that this idea can be part of Russia’s information operations,” said Ihor Prokopchuk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Romania, in a discussion with the press, in which HotNews.ro also participated.

The Ambassador of Ukraine says that as long as Ukrainians, ordinary people and those who fight against Russian aggression every day and overcome all the torments caused by the war, the international relief efforts should not decrease in intensity.

In a conversation with representatives of the press from Bucharest, Prokopchuk emphasized the need for constant efforts on the part of Western countries to provide Ukrainian defenders with the necessary weapons and ammunition within the framework of a stable supply schedule.

Ukraine’s priorities regarding military equipment: air defense, F-16, artillery ammunition

The Ukrainian diplomat also explained in detail what priorities the Ukrainian forces have to receive military equipment and weapons from their partners to continue the fight.

• “Among the priorities, air defense is the biggest, because it is absolutely necessary to be able to defend against missiles, drones and air attacks by the Russians. Ukrainian forces showed [că pot obține] great results. In the last week, they managed to shoot down seven Russian fighter jets,” the Ukrainian ambassador said.

According to Prokopchuk, next on the list is the delivery of F-16 fighter jets, which he hopes will happen in the first half of this year. In this procedure, Romania will play a key role, as a significant part of Ukrainian F-16 pilots will undergo training at the European F-16 training center at the 86th Borcha Air Base (Fetesz). Currently, the training of Ukrainian pilots has not yet begun.

“We urgently need artillery ammunition, as well as means of radio-electronic warfare. We also need armored vehicles and drones,” the ambassador of Ukraine in Bucharest also listed.

Photo: Until now, the Ukrainian military has also largely relied on old weapons of Soviet origin / Source: Abaca Press / Profimedia

Ukrainian forces have almost exhausted the resources of Soviet weapons

He wanted to emphasize one more thing “at this critical moment” of the war.

• “Obviously, together with our partners, we must deploy modern and advanced weapons. Mainly [până acum] Ukrainian forces have almost exhausted their armed resources since the time of the Soviet Union. The aggressor also has many such military capabilities (not of Soviet origin), but has an advantage in numbers [mare] such a weapon. We can’t handle them. But we could resist them if we had a technological advantage, if we used more modern and more complex systems,” the Ukrainian ambassador said.

He emphasized the important role of such modern defense systems in the large-scale attack that Russia carried out on Kyiv during the New Year period.

“We saw a sophisticated combined missile-drone attack by the Russians on Kyiv on New Year’s Eve, where they used different types of missiles from different directions, including the latest and most advanced hypersonic missiles. And I saw how [au funcționat] anti-missile complexes supplied to Ukraine, modern systems that have proven their effectiveness. We need more such systems to cover all of Ukraine,” said the Ukrainian ambassador.

“We need more long-range missiles to penetrate deeper into Russian-occupied territories”

“We need more advanced air defense systems, we need more long-range missiles. It is absolutely necessary to penetrate deeper into the areas occupied by Russia, disrupt the supply lines, destroy their command centers,” said Prokopchuk.

“We know how to fight. People are ready to fight. We need weapons, weapons that will enable us to defeat the Russians. And the sooner we get such an opportunity, the sooner the war will shorten and we will expel the Russians from Ukrainian territory,” the Ukrainian ambassador added.

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