Ukrainian Armed Forces face weapon shortages on the frontline: Analyst names reasons
Artillery shells, FPV drones, and armored vehicles are the main frontline needs that are not fully met.
Armed Forces of Ukraine at the front / © TSN.ua
Ukraine requires significantly more weapons than it can receive or produce domestically. This was stated by military analyst and founder of the charitable organization «Reactive Post» Pavlo Narozhny during a broadcast on the «Kyiv 24» TV channel.
According to him, the Ukrainian army currently consists of about one million people, with approximately 500–600 billion hryvnias allocated annually from the budget for their salaries. However, there is a noticeable lack of funds for equipping the army with weapons.
«If we need a million artillery shells, we only receive 500,000 due to insufficient funding,» the expert explained.
Narozhny emphasized that the frontline urgently needs artillery ammunition. Ukraine requests 3.5–4 million shells from allies but actually receives about 2 million per year—half of what is needed.
In addition to shells, there is a critical shortage of FPV drones, both short- and long-range. Ukraine particularly lags behind Russia in the number of fiber-optic drones.
«This is an important segment that we can produce in Ukraine. The problem, again, is funding,» Narozhny added.
The analyst noted that long-range strike drones, such as the Ant-196 «Lutyi,» are already successfully used for deep strikes on Russian territory. However, production requires scaling up and investment.
Among other frontline needs, he mentioned modernized armored vehicles—jeeps, IFVs, combat modules—as well as artillery systems like the «Bohdana» self-propelled howitzer. Ukraine has production capabilities, for example, at enterprises like «Ukrainian Armor,» but this potential remains unrealized due to a lack of resources.
«The plant is already starting production of 155 mm shells, but we’re talking about only hundreds of thousands of units so far, while much more is needed,» the expert summarized.
He stressed that Ukraine has the technical capacity to produce most of the necessary weapons, but without systematic funding, these capabilities will remain untapped.