“That’s laughable”
Kuleba: North Korea more efficient than friends of Ukraine
January 23, 2024, 8:32 p.m
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Ukraine has been exposed to intense Russian missile attacks for weeks. The ammunition for this is said to come from North Korea. The Ukrainian foreign minister reacts correspondingly angrily to the West’s slow arms deliveries.
Ukraine continues to aggressively solicit weapons and ammunition from its supporters. But the tone is also becoming harsher in Kiev. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister criticized the lack of ammunition deliveries with a crude comparison. “As ludicrous as it may sound, it seems as if North Korea is a more efficient partner for Russia than the friends who supply Ukraine with artillery ammunition are for us. That’s laughable. And it has to change,” he told “Bild” -Newspaper. In the war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia not only used artillery ammunition, but also allegedly used ballistic missiles from North Korea. According to Kuleba, Russia is clearly superior when it comes to supplying artillery ammunition.
While Ukraine has “significantly increased” its production, we still see “that the Western defense industry – that is, the defense industry of the states that help us – is not able to produce a sufficient amount of artillery ammunition,” said Kuleba. The production capacities would neither meet the needs of the war in Ukraine nor the defense needs of their own countries.
“There is no time to drown”
Kuleba added that they appreciate everything they receive from the West. But the extent of the war demands more. He called on Ukraine’s allies and the defense industry to stop blaming each other for not ramping up production quickly enough. “When it comes to making concrete decisions, we see how our partners sometimes drown in endless discussions. But there is no time to drown, we have to swim.”
The Ukrainian military also continues to complain about a deficit in anti-aircraft missiles. Ukraine has recently deployed a “significant reserve” of missiles to defend itself against the latest attacks, said air force spokesman Yuri Ihnat. Russia had increased its air strikes on Ukraine in recent weeks and, according to Ukrainian sources, fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities far behind the front line.
NATO recently announced that it would increase its stocks of artillery ammunition again – also in order to be able to continue supplying Ukraine. It therefore concluded framework agreements worth around 1.1 billion euros with companies from Germany and France. Increasing ammunition production is an absolute necessity in order to be able to continue to provide support for Ukraine, because NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has dug deep into its own warehouses to supply the country with ammunition.