Ukraine may not be able to withstand the pressure of the Russians at the front, regardless of the motivation. The shortage of ammunition is unlikely to be eliminated this year.
Der Spiegel magazine writes about this in an article entitled "The Tired President".
At the Munich Security Conference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "tried to dispel doubts about whether his country would be able to survive a war against Russia in front of all present decision-makers in Europe and the United States. And yet his despair cannot be ignored," writes Der Spiegel.
In Munich, the main topic of the heads of the special services of different countries was the difficult situation in which the Ukrainian troops are. But "at the beginning of 2023, the West and Kyiv still had high hopes for the prepared Ukrainian counteroffensive. There were talks about the return of territories occupied by Russia, perhaps even about Crimea. A year later, it becomes more and more difficult for Ukrainians to hold the front," the publication writes.
Zelenskyi and his delegation came to Munich with one single mission: to convince the Americans and Europeans to supply Ukraine with more weapons and ammunition, Der Spiegel notes. The president announced an "artificial shortage of weapons" due to which the troops had already been forced to retreat from some places on the front line, in particular from Avdiivka .
"If our commanders can only step on the corpses of their soldiers, it does not make any sense," he said.
He also said that "the fall of Ukraine will endanger the whole of Europe." Next time the Russian Federation will attack the Baltic states or even Poland.
Zelenskyi said that Russia has a "military advantage, namely the complete devaluation of human life." He also noted that the Russian Federation has long-range weapons, while Ukraine has "very few of them."
"If these weapons were finally delivered, Ukraine would be able to return the territories again," Zelenskyy said.
Zelensky also highly appreciates the security commitments he signed with the governments in Berlin and Paris. But he reminds that Ukraine needs further military assistance from the West, the publication writes.
At the same time, at the Munich conference, the head of the Foreign Ministry, Kuleba, appealed to Blinken with a request to provide the Armed Forces with ATACMS long-range missiles, which are necessary to block the supply routes of the Russian army.
In Munich, German Chancellor Scholz gave an evasive answer to questions about the Taurus with a range of more than 500 km. For Kuleba, this is enough not to lose hope, the publication writes.
The head of the Foreign Ministry is counting on the fact that the Europeans will intervene if the Americans permanently reduce their support for weapons. But he urges to hurry: "Until the European military industry gains momentum, we will pay with our lives."
According to the publication, representatives of the special services are discussing whether Kyiv should completely change its military strategy. According to the situation report, the ammunition shortage is not expected to be resolved this year. Therefore, the Ukrainian army will have to go on the defensive and try to hold the front line without losing too many soldiers.
