Delays in promised Western military aid to Ukraine are costing lives, the defense minister says
Ukraine's defense minister says half of all promised Western military support fails to arrive on time
KYIV, Ukraine — Half of all Western military support promised to Ukraine fails to arrive on time, complicating the task of military planners and ultimately costing the lives of soldiers in Russia's war, Ukraine's defense minister said Sunday.
Rustan Umerov, speaking at the “Ukraine. Year 2024” forum in Kyiv, said each delayed aid shipment means Ukrainian troop losses and underscored Russia’s superior military might.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later told attendees at the event that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in action since Russia launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. It was the first time that Kyiv has confirmed the number of its losses.
Commemorations to mark the second anniversary of the war on Saturday brought expressions of continued support, new bilateral security agreements and new aid commitments from Ukraine’s Western allies. But Umerov said that they still needed to deliver on their commitments if Ukraine is to have any chance of holding out against Russia.
“We look to the enemy: their economy is almost $2 trillion," he said, adding that they use up to 15% of official and nonofficial budget funds for the war, which constitutes more than $150 billion. He said that whenever a commitment doesn't arrive on time, “we lose people, we lose territories.”
During a press conference after the forum Sunday, Zelenskyy said four brigades did not take part in the country’s counteroffensive against Russian forces because they hadn’t received the equipment they were expecting.
“Can you imagine the numbers of guys who would have fought, who couldn’t? The ones that had to sit and wait for the
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