Ukraine’s military has received only about 10% of the Western weapons it requested “to create parity” with Russia while Moscow is bulking up its own defense spending to combat a war that shows no signs of ending soon.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will preside at a meeting today of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, Belgium, where dozens of defense ministers will try to “identify and examine the next steps needed to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression.”
Ukraine officials say those next steps must include lots of guns and ammunition. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted on Monday that Kyiv required 1,000 155 mm howitzers, 300 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, 500 tanks, 2,000 armored vehicles and 1,000 drones.
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said Ukraine uses 5,000 to 6,000 artillery rounds a day, while Russia uses 10 times more.
“No matter how much effort Ukraine makes, no matter how professional our army, without the help of Western partners we will not be able to win this war,” Malyar said in a televised news conference.
It appears Russia will significantly boost its military budget to continue its slow but steady attack on the Donbas: British defense officials said Russian defense spending could increase by 12 billion U.S. dollars — approaching a 20% increase in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s defense budget.
The British Defense Ministry said Russia is allowing the country’s defense industrial base “to be slowly mobilized to meet demands placed on it by the war in Ukraine. However, the industry could struggle to meet many of these requirements, partially due to the effects of sanctions and lack of expertise.”
Latest developments
►A Moscow court extended the detention of WNBA star Brittney Griner through at least July 2, Russian state-run news agency TASS reported Tuesday. Griner has been in custody since Feb. 17, accused of bringing vape cartridges containing cannabis oil into the country. The U.S. Department of State considers her wrongfully detained.
►Russia banned dozens of British media and defense figures from entering the country in response to what the country’s foreign ministry alleged was the British media’s skewed portrayal of Moscow and its actions in Ukraine.
Almost two-thirds of Ukrainian children have fled their homes: UNICEF
Nearly two-thirds of Ukraine’s children have fled their homes, the families sometimes leaving behind fathers to fight the war, UNICEF says. Some of the families have moved to the relative calm of western Ukraine while others have fled across the border into Poland or other nations. The trauma and fear can have long-lasting effects on children’s physical and mental health, said Afshan Khan, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia. The war in Ukraine is a “child rights crisis,” Khan said.
“Children forced to leave homes, friends, toys and treasured belongings, family members and facing uncertainty about the future,” Khan said. “This instability is robbing children of their futures.”
Russian forces have indiscriminately bombed Ukraine cities, sometimes cutting off humanitarian evacuation corridors. The result: At least 277 child deaths and another 456 have been injured.
“This use of explosive weapons in populated areas and attacks on civilian infrastructure must stop,” Khan said. “It is killing and maiming children and preventing them returning to any kind of normal life in the towns and cities that are their homes.”
‘We are not terrorists’: Zelenskyy won’t fire missiles at Russian cities
Ukraine won’t use any long-range missile systems the West might provide to strike civilian neighborhoods in Russia, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.
Zelenskyy spoke remotely to Danish media on the eve of a meeting of global defense ministers in Brussels that could determine the heft and amount of weaponry supporting nations will provide Ukraine’s out-gunned but unwavering military. Ukraine cities have been pounded from a distance by long-range Russian weapons his military can’t reach.
“We are not interested in shelling civilians, we are not terrorists,” Zelenskyy said. “We need the right weapons … that work at such a distance.”
Zelenskyy said he was willing to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with or without mediators, on ending the war and withdrawing Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.
“Only President Putin decides whether the Russian army will stop or not,” Zelenskyy said. “In Russia there is one person who decides absolutely everything for the citizens of Russia and for the Russian military.”
Contributing: The Associated Press