From our special correspondents in Ukraine – Artillery battles currently make up the vast majority of fighting in the eastern Donbas region, as Ukrainian soldiers await deliveries of the ammunition and high-tech weaponry promised by the West. Amid freezing temperatures, the lack of materials is drawing out the war, the soldiers tell FRANCE 24's special correspondents Catherine Norris Trent, Karim Yahiaoui and Mohamed Farhat.
In the Donbas the frontlines are mainly static, deadlocked in artillery war being fought with old and outdated weapons in freezing winter conditions. US and western allies have promised modern, precision artillery but Soviet-era material still makes up around three quarters of Ukraine’s arsenal.
“Our equipment is not very good. It’s not very reliable, it’s falling apart,” says a soldier named Simon. “It’s been almost a year of this warfare now and there’s nothing on the horizon.”
His unit is equipped with a D20 Howitzer, a cannon first developed in the 1950s, which uses Soviet-era ammunition. Even this is in short supply, and lack of materials is dragging out the conflict, the soldiers say.
“We would like to have more ammunition,” says Lieutenant Andriy from the 35th Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. “If we get more ammunition we could get to work more and liberate our territories faster.”
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