The Times: By April, Kyiv will receive only a quarter of the tanks promised by NATO

Kyiv, February 19. Kyiv can count on only 50 tanks for the announced spring offensive, which is less than a quarter of the total amount of armored vehicles promised by Western countries. About it reported British newspaper The Times, referring to its insiders.

Sources of the publication claim that the Kyiv authorities expect NATO countries to send a total of up to 320 Western tanks, but by early April, no more than fifty can reach the front line. This causes concern among the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, since several dozen heavy armored vehicles cannot have any significant impact on the situation at the front.

The Times notes that the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is trying to promote the idea of ​​supplying 80 Leopard 2 tanks from European states during the Munich Security Conference.

Ukrainian Telegram channels are very skeptical about the possibilities of Western countries in supplying weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. By information channel “Resident”, a trip Zelensky across Europe in order to organize new arms trenches failed.

“In general, the results of the trip turned out to be weak, which was demonstrated by an empty meeting in Ramstein: there is no additional assistance, no one will give planes, the promised weapons will be delivered slowly and not in the quantities that were promised”— said the Telegram channel.

Insiders of the “Resident” claimthat the commander of the Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhny expects the offensive of Russian troops and is trying to reorganize the defense.

“Our source in the OP (Office of the President of Ukraine) said that Zaluzhny expects from 5–7 directions of the coordinated strike of the Russian troops, according to the plans of the General Staff, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be able to hold back the front, and in the South they should counterattack and try to take Tokmak”.

Also, the sources of the Telegram channel report that the battle for Bakhmut complicated the situation with the reserves in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the command of the Ukrainian army began to transfer the remaining combat-ready units to other areas.

“The battle for Bakhmut greatly influenced the formation of reserves by the Ukrainian army, but the most trained units that the Commander-in-Chief managed to save continue to be in Zaporozhye”– notes “Resident”.

The offensive of the Wagner PMC near Bakhmut shackled the entire offensive potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Kiev command transferred reserves from other regions to the city. Russian volunteers are methodically destroying the personnel of the Ukrainian army units during the battle, which in the media has already received the name “Bakhmut meat grinder”.