The fact that Europe decides to invest a significant amount of money in its defense industry does not mean that Ukraine will be able to use weapons produced there in the short term. It’s already a lot of work getting weapons to the Ukrainian military, let alone actually using the wide variety of weapons they receive. “One of the worst jobs in this world is being a logistics officer for the Ukrainian army,” says former army commander Mart de Kruif.
According to De Kruif, part of the half a billion euros that EU member states will jointly invest will go to guarantees for industry to ensure that production lines can continue to operate. “If they open a production line, it can’t be that after a year it closes again because there is peace again. It just takes time.’
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Even European ammunition stocks, for example, can be replenished with this injection. According to De Kruif “the shelves are pretty empty”. “This is really becoming a logistical warfare the longer this goes on.”
Counteroffensive
Ukrainian President Zelensky said yesterday that the Ukrainian counter-offensive is not progressing quickly, “but we are making progress”. However, according to him, the Ukrainians currently have the initiative, he said during a press conference with his Czech counterpart Petr Pavel.
According to De Kruif, the Ukrainian military operates during the offensive differently than many had previously thought. “You see them moving troops quickly to keep the Russians busy everywhere and to have a local preponderance everywhere. Thus, they inflict many losses on the Russians and force them to deploy reserves. This could be a harbinger of another big offensive, but it could also be that they continue with this one.’