There is fierce competition in the global arms market, and Russia has a great influence on countries that have Soviet-style ammunition and is doing everything to prevent Ukraine from receiving the shells. This was stated by military expert Oleh Zhdanov in an exclusive commentary to UNN.
At a press conference, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the cost of artillery shells in the world has increased 5 times due to the full-scale war, but Ukraine is fighting for every single ammunition.
"Those who have this ammunition are looking more towards Russia than towards Europe. Russia is creating problems there to prevent us from getting this ammunition," noted Zhdanov.
На світовому ринку озброєння зараз дефіцит, купити боєприпаси дуже складно - експерт26.02.24, 12:48
In particular, Russia has a great influence on the Balkan countries, which have stocks of Soviet-style ammunition that the Ukrainian army needs. However, according to him, it is unrealistic to negotiate with these countries on the supply of ammunition.
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The vast majority of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' weapons before the full-scale invasion were, to varying degrees , Soviet inheritance. Therefore, the weapons themselves, spare parts and ammunition are produced mostly in the former Warsaw Pact countries. Some of the states that have the ammunition Ukraine needs are hostile, such as Russia and Belarus. Ukraine received all possible assistance from other post-socialist countries that joined the EU (Poland, Czech Republic, etc.).
However, there remains a group of Balkan states that, despite the European integration processes in some of them and support for Ukraine, are still strongly influenced by the Russian Federation. In these states, friends of Russia are still in power and have a significant impact on the policies of their countries. In practice, this is manifested in the fact that despite their overwhelming support for Ukraine, they refuse to supply us with weapons and ammunition directly. Therefore, Ukraine is forced to purchase ammunition from these countries through a number of intermediaries.