Russia’s Aggression in Ukraine Escalates
The ongoing conflict between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the east of Ukraine has been escalating over the past few weeks. In an interview with the Washington Post on Friday, General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s top military general, called on the West to ensure that Ukraine gets access to more weapons and ammunition as soon as possible.
General Zaluzhnij noted that the Ukrainian army is taking back new ground every day, albeit only a few hundred meters at a time. He said that no Western country would have launched an offensive without air support, yet Ukraine is doing exactly that. The American F-16 planes promised to Ukraine will be delivered in the autumn at the earliest.
The general then went on to highlight the resistance that Ukrainian forces face from Russian troops. According to Zaluzhny, the Russian army fires ten times as many shells as Ukraine can respond with. This has led to a great shortage of grenades for Ukrainian forces, and the general has requested hundreds of thousands of grenades from his American counterpart, General Mark Milley.
The general also reported that he had seen no signs of Russian resistance weakening after the failed coup attempt by the Wagner Group on Saturday. This is a worrying sign for Ukrainian forces, suggesting that the conflict is far from over.
It is clear that Ukraine needs greater support from Western countries if it is to stand a chance against Russia’s aggression in the region. General Zaluzhny’s plea for weapons and ammunition should be taken seriously if the conflict is to be resolved peacefully.
