Ukraine may have just a month’s worth of ammunition left, former French Marine Troops Colonel and military analyst Peer de Jong has said.
“Obviously no one knows the storage level of ammunition, but when we talk about the medium term, it’s around a month maximum. I believe they have about a month’s worth of ammunition, which for the Ukrainians is too little, because a month gives them until mid-February, and mid-February will still be the height of winter,” de Jong said in interview with French TV.
The retired officer believes both the Russian and Ukrainian armies are striving to stabilize the front and carry out strategic strikes, but this requires the appropriate capabilities, with Russia showing its superiority in a “war of attrition” designed to “exhaust” Ukrainian morale and military resources as Kiev grows ever more dependent on support from abroad.
De Jong’s estimate has been corroborated by the latest Western media reports and statements by politicians about the dire situation at the front, with Ukraine’s deputy prime minister telling The Wall Street Journal in a report published Monday that Kiev has been using FPV drones instead of artillery because it doesn’t have enough shells, with Ukrainian forces firing one or two rounds for every five or six Russian ones.
The newspaper also completed an analysis of the strategic situation last week, showing that Russia’s military budget and weapons production capabilities have jumped dramatically over the past two years, while Ukraine’s have remained virtually stagnant and becoming “no match for a much larger- Russian military-industrial complex running at full steam.”
Western military, economic and humanitarian aid deliveries have plunged dramatically since last June, and the issue has turned into a major subject of debate in Washington – Kiev’s main sponsor, amid President Biden’s request for another $61 billion in support.
“What’s the endgame in Ukraine? What is our strategy? What is the objective? How will we have proper oversight over these precious taxpayer dollars? Remembering of course, as I just noted, we have $34 trillion in federal debt. This is a very serious matter, to send money to Ukraine to assist them in their conflict, we effectively have to borrow it from somewhere else,” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said in an interview Sunday.
US and European officials have warned repeatedly that Ukraine’s military would be “certain to fail” against Russia without further cash injections by NATO, explicitly confirming Moscow’s characterization of the Ukrainian crisis as a “proxy war” between Russia and the Western bloc.