Ukraine relying on donated drones to keep Russians back

Lack of Western weaponry leaves Kyiv’s forces reliant on crowdfunding, says top military commander

UKRAINE is only holding back a Russian breakthrough with drones paid for by volunteers, as Western arms supplies run out, one of Kyiv’s top military commanders has said.

Lieutenant Colonel Pavlo Kurylenko, a commander in Ukraine’s Presidential Brigade, said that the lack of Western weaponry was “horrible” and front line units were relying on donations or sourcing drones themselves.

He warned that Russia was preparing a massive offensive for this summer and said that, without fresh deliveries of aid, Ukrainian troops would soon have to fall back to the Dnipro River.

“The only thing preventing Russia’s breakthrough on all fronts is FPV (first-person) drones, 90 per cent of which are being provided by volunteers or military divisions themselves,” he told in an interview at a military base outside of Kyiv.

“A year ago it was a ‘bad situation’. Today the situation with shells and gear is just horrible,” said the commander, one of the so-called “Cyborgs” who fought off Kremlin forces in the battle for Donetsk airport.

In an office decorated with captured Russian assault rifles, Lt Col Kurylenko explained his men’s struggles.

“I get 20 projectiles for a mortar per week, while one Russian mortar fires 50-60 projectiles at one Ukrainian position per day.

“Imagine: a column of Russian hardwear comes at you. They attack. If we shoot at them with a mortar, the next day we will have just machine guns to fire at the next column of tanks...”

Across the nearly 1,000-mile front, Ukrainian soldiers are locked in a brutal war of attrition as Russia brings its superior firepower and manpower to bear. Fighting when outnumbered is not new to Lt Col Kurylenko.

“Since the very beginning in 2014, until today, we have always encountered overwhelming forces in infantry, artillery and equipment,” he said.

“I participated in the battle of Donetsk Airport … I heard stories that it was compared to the battle of Stalingrad. It looks to me as a childish fight now, compared to what is happening today. I can’t say that the Russians are fighting better or worse.”

Lt Col Kurylenko’s predictions for the coming year are bleak and predicated on Western aid that is non-existent or late to arrive.

“We will be assaulted by a full-scale and overpowering offensive. Closer to the summer, Russian forces will be ready to attack the area on the junction of the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions and try to advance in the direction from the Kharkiv to Poltava regions.

“After that, the battle line will be extended and the depth of the frontline will get bigger as well. We will be able to break their logistic routes so they won’t be able to prevail even overpowering our forces.

“This line will freeze along the Dnipro river and we will lose the territory of Ukraine right up to the Dnipro.”

The travails of the Ukrainian army are reversible, said Lt Col Kurylenko, but much does depend on the West.

“This so-called crucial moment which is unfolding at the moment has been artificially created by our western partners,” he said. “I don’t really know what our partners consider as their minimum and maximum goals. I won’t say they don’t have [them], I just don’t know what [they are].”

“When we call each other friends and partners ready to help each other, we can’t assist with one thing, and then refrain from helping with the other one.

“If all of us as a coalition are fighting against our common enemy, we either keep beating it together or we just say ‘bye’ to each other and go home. Partnership implies assistance even in the hardest times. To go ahead towards victory mutual assistance is vital and should be supported by actions, not just by words,” said Lt Col Kurylenko.