Russia needs to up the number and quality of its weapons heading for Ukraine to maintain Moscow's push on Ukraine's defensive lines, Russia's top defense official has said, ahead of a likely summer offensive expected to start in the coming weeks.
"To maintain the required pace of the offensive and ensure the build-up of the combat strength of troop groups for further actions, it is necessary to increase the volume and quality of weapons and military equipment supplied to the troops," Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said, according to comments published by Moscow on Wednesday.
Deep into the third year of all-out war in Ukraine, both Russia and Ukraine have burned through their weapons, ammunition and equipment stocks.
Kyiv is heavily reliant on Western military aid to keep its forces stocked up on vital supplies, and Russia has targeted Kyiv's defense industry with long-range strikes. Fears over the flow of military aid to Ukraine were temporarily abated last month after U.S. President Joe Biden signed off on a significant tranche of military aid for Ukraine to replenish Kyiv's arsenals.
Moscow has poured funding into its defense industry, hiking military spending and back-filling stocks lost on the battlefields of Ukraine. In early February, Russian President Vladimir Putin said increased defense investment had created more than half a million jobs in the previous 18 months.
Ukrainian officials have warned that Russia is gearing up to launch a summer offensive on Ukrainian positions as early as the end of May. Ukraine's own summer offensive last year failed to produce the significant gains Kyiv and the country's Western backers had hoped for.
Russia has gained territory in eastern Ukraine during the first four months of 2024, claiming the strategic Donetsk stronghold of Avdiivka in February and moving westward in the months since. But Western analysts have said it is unclear whether Russia is preparing to launch a summer offensive in Donetsk, or whether Moscow will focus its attention further north around Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, or to the south of the country.
Ukraine has warned Russia is hoping to capture Chasiv Yar, a settlement west of the Russian-controlled eastern city of Bakhmut, ahead of Russia's Victory Day celebrations on May 9. From Chasiv Yar, Russia would then be able to advance toward the Donetsk city of Kramatorsk, Ukraine's army chief, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, previously warned.
Washington-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War has said the capture of Chasiv Yar would furnish Russia with a springboard to attack a number of Ukrainian cities, referred to as "fortress cities," which form the backbone of Kyiv's defenses.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
