Ukraine's armed forces do not have enough spare parts for Western weapons, which is why they cannot use a significant part of the tank howitzers supplied to Kiev by Germany, the Netherlands and Italy, which have come out of building, reports the German newspaper BILD, citing two commanders of Ukrainian artillery units, as quoted by Focus.
According to them, the Ukrainian armed forces have a "catastrophic supply of spare parts".
"It's a great system, but the wear and tear is very high,”, a gunner told the publication.
The barrels soon had to be replaced, but their production takes several months, notes the military.
"It is absurd that more weapon systems are currently failing due to a lack of spare parts than due to enemy fire," said Markus Faber, chairman of the Bundestag defense committee, as quoted by the publication.
On September 6, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced that Germany will deliver 12 Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled artillery systems to Ukraine. On September 4, Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed the delivery of 17 air defense systems to Ukraine.