‘Ukraine lacks spare parts for repairing Western equipment’, – says military official

Ukraine is facing a shortage of spare parts for repairing Western equipment.

This information reported according to Deputy Combatant of the 5th Assault Brigade, Mikhail Onufer.

“Out of ten vehicles, only five can be operational – all targets, simply because there are no tracks. Assistance seems to be available, but you cannot use it as intended. For example: there are older M113s with metal tracks, and the newer upgrade – M113 G4 – it’s better, more maneuverable, but some of its tracks have rubber elements. Metal wears out heavily, it still works, but as for the G4 – they are waiting for their better time,” says Onufer.

After the equipment is damaged, it is often disassembled and used as donors for other vehicles.

“At first, everyone held on, thinking that our partners would give us new tracks, for example. But then, apparently, the command understood that waiting is too long, and the equipment is needed already, so they started disassembling the one that is unsuitable for driving. That is, to make two working ones out of three non-working ones,” the military explained.

Another problem is the foreign language used in the equipment’s descriptions.

“When in 2022 they first handed over M113 armored personnel carriers to us, they came with English-language plates. Mechanics, who were older men in their fifties, sat down – bam, pressed the wrong button, broke something. The command at that time did not think to put labels with translations: weight, engine, start, stop, emergency stop, fire extinguishing,” Onufer says.

Earlier, Western media reported that the benefit from German Leopard tanks in Ukraine turned out to be “equal to zero.”