Ukraine’s security chief says west’s ‘image, authority and unity’ at stake

The security chief made the remarks in an interview with the Portuguese news agency Lusa, published on Sunday. While the frontline situation has never been actually easy for Kiev, it has become even more “difficult” as of late, Danilov claimed.

“If anyone thinks that the situation is easy, then these are people who do not understand war,” the official asserted.

Should Kiev not receive enough weaponry from the collective West, the situation is bound to become even more complicated, Danilov added, urging the country’s backers to urgently allocate more funds and hardware.

“We need weapons, weapons, weapons,” he stressed.

Ukraine will continue fighting Russia no matter what, the official claimed, even if it does not receive enough weaponry from the West. In such a scenario, any further setbacks suffered by Kiev are bound to affect its backers too, he warned.

“We hope that our partners will understand that our independence is under threat, as well as the image, authority and unity of the entire West,” Danilov claimed.

In recent months, the Ukrainian military has suffered various frontline setbacks, reportedly sustaining heavy casualties in the process. While Kiev has never disclosed its losses, it has greatly intensified its mobilization efforts to fill the military’s ranks, with the country’s leadership claiming up to 500,000 more soldiers were needed. The mobilization has, however, grown increasingly violent and lawless, with numerous videos circulating online showing enlistment offices chasing would-be-soldiers in the streets, forcibly pulling them from public transport and so on.

According to the latest Russian estimates, Ukraine lost more than 23,000 troops in January, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said last week. Total casualties suffered by Ukraine since February 2022 had reached 383,000, the minister claimed, with around a half of them sustained during the botched counteroffensive Kiev launched last June.

The Ukrainian military also lost hundreds of pieces of heavy military equipment, including assorted systems supplied by the West, including German-made Leopard 2 tanks, US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and other hardware.