Bild: Kuleba urges Germany to speed up ammunition supply, start pilot training

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, in an interview with the German newspaper Bild on March 12, called on Berlin to speed up the ammunition supply and start training Ukrainian pilots on Western fighter jets.

Kuleba stressed that the shortage of ammunition is Ukraine’s “number one problem” in its attempt to fight back Russian forces.

The foreign minister added that during the Munich Security Conference last month, German weapons manufacturers told him they were ready to deliver but were waiting for the government to sign the contracts.

“So the problem lies with the government,” Kuleba was quoted as saying.

In the interview, Kuleba made clear that he did not expect western allies to give Ukraine the fighter jets it has been asking for any time soon. However, he emphasized that Ukrainian pilots should be trained anyway, so they would be ready once that decision was taken.

According to Kuleba, Germany’s decision to train Ukrainian pilots would be a “clear message of its political engagement.”

Kuleba also stated that Ukraine will continue to defend Bakhmut despite the intensity of the battles.

“If we withdrew from Bakhmut, what would that change? Russia would take Bakhmut and then continue its offensive against Chasiv Yar, so every town behind Bakhmut could suffer the same fate,” the Foreign Minister said.

Prior, on March 9, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ground Forces of Ukraine, said that the importance of holding Bakhmut is “only increasing.”