Aid delays hinder Ukraine's ability to respond to increasing pace of Russian attacks – ISW

Ukrainska Pravda
·2 min read
Ukrainian Defenders. Stock Photo: Ukraine’s General Staff
Ukrainian Defenders. Stock Photo: Ukraine’s General Staff

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) say that the delay in US aid to Ukraine is having a negative impact on the ability of the Ukrainian Defence Forces to respond to the increasing pace of Russian mechanised attacks in eastern Ukraine.

Source: ISW

Details: The report notes that long delays in US security assistance are having a particularly negative impact on the ability of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to respond to the increasing pace of Russian mechanised attacks in eastern Ukraine.

Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, warned on 6 April that the situation was particularly difficult east of Chasiv Yar and west of Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast, both fronts that have recently seen an intensification of Russian mechanised attacks from platoon to battalion level.

Syrskyi also noted that Russian troops have been conducting platoon, company and sometimes battalion-level infantry attacks in certain areas.

To quote the ISW’s Key Takeaways on 6 April: 

  • Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated that Ukraine does not have enough materiel to contest the battlefield initiative.

  • Zelenskyy stressed that additional Western security assistance is necessary for Ukrainian forces to effectively defend Ukraine’s airspace against the intensified Russian strike campaign and increased Russian aviation operations along the frontline.

  • Zelenskyy cautioned that the arrival of all promised F-16 fighter jets from Ukraine’s Western partners in 2024 will provide Ukraine with only 10 per cent of the fighter aircraft Ukraine would need to completely defeat Russian aviation and restore Ukraine’s ability to operate effectively in the air domain.

  • Continued delays in US security assistance are specifically impacting the capabilities that Ukrainian forces need to respond to the increased tempo of Russian mechanised assaults in eastern Ukraine.

  • The Kremlin explicitly threatened its long-term ally Armenia on 5 April over Armenian outreach to the West following Russia’s failure to prevent Armenia’s loss of Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023.

  • The Russian MFA also continues to threaten Finland and claimed that Finland has "lost its independence in making foreign policy decisions" since its accession to NATO — a narrative that the Kremlin routinely used to falsely claim that NATO was controlling Ukraine and using Ukraine to threaten Russia.

  • Chechen Republic Head Ramzan Kadyrov announced on 5 April that 3,000 former Wagner Group personnel will join the Akhmat Spetsnaz unit following successful negotiations between Akhmat and Wagner commanders.

  • Russian forces recently made confirmed advances near Avdiivka and Donetsk City.

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin passed two laws on 6 April, offering Russian society some concession for its sacrifices to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.

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