Ukrainian troops face shortages of artillery shells and have scaled back some military operations because of a shortfall of foreign assistance, Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi told Reuters. Ukrainians trust the Armed Forces and the chief commander most, a poll finds. Zaluzhnyi says the situation on the front lines is not a stalemate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frontline Ukrainian troops face shortages of artillery shells and have scaled back some military operations because of a shortfall of foreign assistance, Ukraine\u2019s commander of the Tavria operational strategic group, Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi told Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tarnavskyi said the shortage of artillery shells was a \u201cvery big problem\u201d and the drop in foreign military aid was having an impact on the battlefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a problem with ammunition, especially post-Soviet (shells) \u2014 that\u2019s 122 mm, 152 mm. And today these problems exist across the entire front line,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cThe volumes that we have today are not sufficient for us today, given our needs. So, we\u2019re redistributing it. We\u2019re replanning tasks that we had set for ourselves and making them smaller because we need to provide for them,\u201d he said, without providing details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukrainian troops on the southeastern front have gone on the defensive in some areas but are trying to attack in others, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russian forces also face ammunition problems, Tarnavskyi said, without specifying their nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukrainians\u2019 trust in President Volodymyr Zelenskyi dropped to 62 per cent in December 2023, down from 84 per cent in December 2022. Ninety-six per cent of Ukrainians trust the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and 88 per cent trust the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi. At the same time, 59 per cent have confidence in both Zelenskyi and Zaluzhnyi, a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The poll was conducted between November 29, 2023 and December 9, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the survey, while trust in the President has fallen, most Ukrainians still retain trust in him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sixty-two per cent have confidence in the President, and 18 per cent do not trust him. In December 2022, 84 per cent of Ukrainians trusted the President, and five per cent did not trust him. He has a trust-distrust balance of +42 per cent, compared with last year\u2019s +80 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An absolute majority of Ukrainians \u2014 96 per cent, unchanged from a year ago, continue to have trust in the Armed Forces. Eighty-eight per cent trust Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, and only four per cent do not trust him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the pollster, 59 per cent have confidence in both the Ukrainian President and Ukraine\u2019s army chief. The share of Ukrainians who have contrasting opinions of the two, is quite small. Only 14 per cent trust the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and do not trust the President. Only one per cent trust President Zelenskyi and do not trust General Zaluzhnyi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When approached by \u201cRBC Ukraine\u201d journalists on the sidelines of the presentation of Ukraine\u2019s defense logistics agency on Monday, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi declined to comment on Ukraine\u2019s military plans for 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the situation on the front lines had not reached a stalemate. When asked whether Ukraine plans counteroffensive operations over winter, Zaluzhnyi said: \u201cThis is war. I can\u2019t say what I plan, what we should do. Otherwise, it will be a show, not a war,\u201d he was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an interview with Fox News earlier this month, Ukraine\u2019s Defense Minister, Rustem Umerov said that Ukrainian troops had made it through the first two of Russia\u2019s three major defensive lines and that Ukraine has a plan for 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked to comment on a recent article by The New York Times that quoted \u201csome in the U.S. military\u201d as saying that they want Ukraine to focus on holding the territory it has rather than to go on the attack, President Zelenskyi, speaking at a news conference in Oslo, Norway, last week, said that the statements do not signal crisis in the war. \u201cIt is not about crisis, it is about winter. Winter always slows down the operations, counteroffensive or defensive. That\u2019s what the signal is about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n