KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — NATO countries failed to deliver on time on what they promised Ukraine, the alliance’s leader said Monday, allowing Russia to exploit its merit as Kyiv’s exhausted forces await the arrival of military hardware from the United States and Europe.
“The severe delays have had serious consequences on the battlefield” for Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at a news conference in Kyiv with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ukrainian troops, lightly armed, have struggled to repel Russian advances on the battlefield. They were recently forced to make a tactical retreat from three villages in the east, where the Kremlin’s forces have made slow advances, Ukraine’s army chief said on Sunday. The Defense Ministry said on Monday that its forces had captured the village of Semenivka.
“The lack of ammunition allowed the Russians to advance on the front line. The lack of air defense has allowed more Russian missiles to reach their targets, and the lack of deep strike functions has allowed the Russians to concentrate more forces,” Stoltenberg said. .
Kyiv’s Western partners have pledged to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes. “But significant aid from the U. S. military has been delayed for six months because of political differences in Washington, and European production of military equipment has not kept pace. of heavy weapons is only now beginning to gain momentum.
Now, Ukraine and its Western partners are scrambling to deploy critical new military aid that could halt Russia’s slow and costly but steady advance in eastern regions, as well as thwart drone and missile attacks.
Zelensky said new Western materials have begun to arrive, albeit slowly. “This process must be accelerated,” he said at the news conference with Stoltenberg.
Although the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line has moved little since the war began, the Kremlin’s forces have in recent weeks, specifically in the Donetsk region, complex their numbers and heavy firepower to crush defensive positions.
Russia also continues to launch missiles, drones and bombs against Ukrainian cities. At least four other people were killed and 27 wounded on Monday in a Russian missile strike on residential buildings and “civilian infrastructure” in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa. Gov. Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging site.
A Gothic-style building with turrets known locally as “Harry Potter Castle” appeared in flames after the attack.
Russia is a much larger country than Ukraine, with greater resources. It has also obtained weapons from Iran and North Korea, the U. S. government claims.
Ukraine’s endless efforts to mobilize more troops and the backlogged structure of fortifications on the battlefield are other points undermining Ukraine’s war effort, military analysts say.
Nick Reynolds, a land warfare researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said the war “remains largely an artillery duel. “
He said he did not expect to see primary moves on the front lines anytime soon, but that “conditions are being set as to what military merit will look like at the front. Lately the Russian army is in a better position. “.
“When we see that one aspect or the other is moving the front line, at some point the maneuver will be re-established on the battlefield. Not in the next few weeks, maybe not even in the next few months. But it will happen,” he told The Associated Press.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh, at a press briefing on Monday, also highlighted Russia’s recent advances on the battlefield, noting that a delay in congressional approval of increased spending “has set the Ukrainians back. “
NATO leader Stoltenberg, however, said more weapons and ammunition would be on the way to Ukraine, adding Patriot missile systems to protect against heavy Russian shelling lashing the network of forces and urban areas.
Ukrainian officials say Russia is rallying its forces for a primary summer offensive, even if its troops are making incremental gains for now.
“Russian forces are unlikely to make deeper operational penetration into the region anytime soon,” the Institute for the Study of War said on Sunday.
Despite this, Kremlin forces have ultimate control over the strategic town of Chasiv Yar, the capture of which would be a step forward in the Donetsk region.
Donetsk and Luhansk form a giant component of the Donbas commercial region, which has been plagued by separatist fighting since 2014 and which Putin has set as the main target of Russia’s invasion. Russia illegally annexed parts of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia. regions in September 2022.
Separately, Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, made an unannounced trip to Ukraine, the first British royal in the country since Russia’s invasion in 2022.
Buckingham Palace said Monday that Prince Edward’s wife, Sophie, met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska in Kyiv and delivered a message on behalf of King Charles III. He revealed the moment or the main points of the visit.
The palace said Sophie, 59, did so “to demonstrate solidarity with women, men and young people affected by the war and in continuity with her paintings advocating for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. “
Associated Press editor Tara Copp in Washington contributed reporting.
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