DONETSK, January 15. /TASS/. Tracked armored vehicles are currently being replaced with light ones at the Ukrainian Army, as the demand for the former has exceeded the amount Kiev’s Western sponsors have in stock, an officer with the People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic told TASS.
On January 6, the United States announced the Biden administration’s commitment of over $3 billion in additional military assistance for Ukraine, including 50 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles as well as 55 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAPs) and 138 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs).
"This is proof that they simply do not have the ability to supply enough tracked vehicles to make up for Ukrainian losses. Therefore, tracked armored vehicles are currently being replaced with light ones. Of course, the decision is quite logical, for at least something armored is being delivered, while light vehicles are cheaper and more of them are available at warehouses. Well, of course their armor is lighter and they are more vulnerable. Had it been possible to send 500 Bradleys, they would have been delivered, but this option is not physically available," the DPR militia officer explained. This, he said, shows that the Western coalition’s stocks are depleting.
According to a Pentagon estimate, the US has provided more than $24.2 billion in military assistance to Kiev since Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine. Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov and other Russian officials have repeatedly warned that the Western-supplied weapons for Ukraine could spread to other regions. Russian Ambassador the US Anatoly Antonov said that Western actions to militarize Ukraine were posing a direct threat to European and global security.