- Ukrainian soldiers have received billions of dollars in Western security assistance to fight Russia.
- Sometimes, the weapons they've been given don't come with instructions, or have other issues
Ukrainian soldiers fighting off invading Russian forces have enjoyed the delivery of loads of security assistance from NATO partners, but when this weaponry arrives in Ukraine, things aren't always the way troops need them to be.
In some cases, the military aid comes in without instructions, so Western military officers have been hopping on FaceTime with Ukrainian troops to teach them how to use the weapons, according to a new report published Monday in War on the Rocks, a platform that covers national security.
Front-line units facing these issues have also been able to communicate with Western forces and NATO personnel through channels like secure messaging apps, the report's authors said.
The authors wrote that Ukrainian soldiers told them that in one case, Western military officers used FaceTime to teach Kyiv's troops how to use operate a rocket-propelled grenade that was delivered without instructions, and in another situation, soldiers had problems with aiming sights on guns.
"Most Ukrainian troops appreciate these informal solutions, but the United States and Europe could do a better job of ensuring future war materiel deliveries actually make sense for the Ukrainian military," the authors said in the report.
It was not clear when these interactions took place, but Ukrainian troops finding issues in their weapons and needing a bit of customer service and tech support from partners is nothing new — they have previously been forced to reach out to Western partners over the phone and through video chats, sometimes even during active combat with the Russians.
Since NATO doesn't have troops fighting alongside the Ukrainians, a maintenance team has worked remotely to provide telephone support to Kyiv's troops as they deal with damaged artillery pieces, among the many other problems that have emerged in the intense fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The US has sent over $35.1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022. According to a Defense Department fact sheet from this month, the long list of weaponry includes rockets, missiles, artillery pieces, infantry fighting vehicles, tanks, small arms, ammunition, and so much more.
"The United States will continue to work with its Allies and partners to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer-term security assistance requirements," the Pentagon said in an April statement announcing a recent round of military hardware worth around $2.6 billion for Ukraine.
As Russia's full-scale assault on Ukraine nears the 14-month-mark and the two countries continue to fight a grinding and brutal war of attrition along a relatively static front line, there are growing concerns about if Western countries will continue to maintain their military support for Ukraine, especially as continuous deliveries strain some partner arsenals and defense production.
Russia's devastating war in Ukraine has so far taken a heavy toll, and both sides may have suffered upwards of 350,000 casualties, recently leaked Pentagon documents revealed, with the Russian death toll more than double the Ukrainian figures.