In an interview for Britain's The Economist, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said he was concerned about the loss of interest in the war in Ukraine among Western countries.
"Either the world doesn't quite understand what's going on, or it does, but it's tired and is satisfied with the deaths of a few Ukrainians," the minister said.
According to him, the Ukrainian army's manpower losses are now averaging 100-200 a day.
"We need help, and quickly, because the price of any delay is measured in Ukrainian blood," the minister notes.
Ukraine now needs Western help to stop the offensive, but it is not coming fast enough. In some areas, Russian troops outnumber the Ukrainians tenfold in firepower. Multiple rocket launchers are in the process of being delivered and should arrive "soon... maybe in a week, maybe in two weeks."
But Ukraine needs them in large numbers, and whether the allies agree to send them may depend on how Russia reacts to their deployment, the paper notes.
Western officials have also expressed concern that Ukraine will not be able to master the new equipment quickly. Reznikov rejects this: according to him, Ukrainian soldiers mastered Western artillery in just two weeks. The country is ready to switch its weapons to NATO standards within a month, he argues.
Reznikov notes with regard to Western partners that fatigue is "a natural psychological reaction to stress," and that politicians have "internal problems" to worry about, leaders "have an obligation to think through the consequences."
But if the war has taught him anything, he said, it is that Ukraine's allies talk more about human rights and freedom than they do about protecting them.
"The bureaucracy and pragmatism of the West have proven far stronger than its values," he says.
