`Invisible enemy` threatens Western weapons on Ukraine’s front lines

(Dan Tri) – Ukrainian soldiers are struggling with a series of problems related to military equipment, logistics and daily battles on the front lines as winter approaches.

Ukrainian soldiers in Donetsk (Photo: Reuters).

Ukraine’s military enters its second winter of armed conflict with Russian forces.

Anatoliy Matviychuk, military expert and retired colonel, said Ukraine lost Soviet and Russian-made military equipment, while they were fully designed to operate in the northern regions with

However, Mr. Matviychuk explained that Western military equipment is not designed for such cold weather.

`Military equipment has been put into use in the Ukrainian army, including US-made M1 Abrams tanks, which are specifically designed to operate in tropical climates and need to avoid cold weather,`

`Have you noticed that Abrams tanks do not appear on the battlefield? They are not suitable for winter weather or swamps. While Russia’s T-90 tanks break through ice and are capable of moving in any

Mr. Matviychuk predicted that this winter, Ukrainian soldiers will face similar problems as last winter, when their military equipment was affected by harsh weather conditions.

`The buttons on the guns will stop working, tanks and combat vehicles will stop starting, and the weapons that the West supplied to Kiev will stop firing,` the Russian expert warned, saying that Ukraine did not

When asked what other factors were important for soldiers on the front lines, Mr. Matviychuk mentioned the supply of medicine and food, as well as manpower replenishment, hygiene and sanitation.

Mr. Matviychuk also mentioned the issue of rats `invading` the trenches of Ukrainian forces.

He said that to solve this problem, it is necessary to take special measures, which stipulate the temporary withdrawal of Ukrainian soldiers from trenches or bunkers.

His comments came after Ukrainian Army Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny admitted in an exclusive interview with the British Economist magazine earlier this month that Kiev needed to make a technological leap to

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin described Kiev’s summer counteroffensive effort as a `complete failure` and not just a deadlock.