The Sunday Telegraph, citing a source, reported that NATO is dissatisfied with the Ukrainian army’s use of Western-supplied weapons alongside Soviet ones.
This is resulting in the wasteful use of weapons provided by allies due to their different approaches to using weapons.
According to the newspaper, NATO advocates the use of high-precision weapons from different sources, while the Soviet approach calls for intensive use of cheap firepower.
An official involved in the training of Ukrainian soldiers told the newspaper that the Ukrainians were using British-supplied NLAW anti-tank missiles (around 5,000) as hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers (RPGs).
It was reported that the soldiers were firing salvos of five or six rockets, but that each rocket cost around £20,000 (2.2 million rubles at the time).
It was emphasized that using RPGs was not that costly. The launch of the rockets was reportedly recorded on video, and Ukraine provided the footage for reporting purposes.
Other sources told the newspaper that Ukrainian troops often abandon their equipment during withdrawals and that NATO’s principle is to “leave nothing behind” due to the cost of the weapons.
In particular, it was noted that the Ukrainian army did not take the launchers of the Javelin anti-tank missiles, which cost $100,000, from the abandoned positions.
“The Russian army probably has more Javelins than the British army,” one of the newspaper’s sources said. The Russian side has been reporting the seizure of such anti-tank missile systems since 2022.
The Telegraph listed the reasons for Kiev’s departure from Western tactics as the lack of time to train Ukrainians and disagreements with instructors who were unfamiliar with real combat conditions.
It was stated that this situation caused Ukraine to demand cheaper firepower and that the West was forced to turn to former Warsaw Pact countries for Soviet weapons.
“Foreign training is not only ineffective, but also dangerous, unless it is adapted to Ukrainian conditions and integrated into existing unit practices,” said Sergey Filimonov, commander of Ukraine’s 108th battalion.