War won’t write off
During the presentation of his next program (this time, "Resilience") in parliament, President Zelenskyy announced a huge achievement of the Ukrainian defense industry in the form of significant batches of mines and shells supplied to the AFU.
This was against the backdrop of numerous signals from the frontline about defective 120 mm mortar shells produced by Ukrainian state-owned enterprises that get stuck in mortar barrels or fly as far as 10-20 metres.
We are used to the deceitfulness and helplessness of the current government, but their negligence and unprofessionalism are at the expense of the lives of our soldiers, who have nothing to stop the orcs' advance. I have no doubt that ministers and top officials will not be punished for this again, just as they were not punished for stolen money and unfulfilled multibillion-dollar military contracts, for the lack of equipped defense borders and fortifications, for squandered resources and dead hopes. The hopes of the country's leaders that "the war will write off everything" are in vain. Against the backdrop of daily losses of Ukrainian territories, deaths of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, state "top managers" are beginning to realize that they will have to answer for total corruption, for "preparations" for war, for senseless decisions...
To blur the responsibility, domestic propagandists were tasked with blaming defense failures and slandering those who defended the country in 2014-2018 by restoring the defense industry, creating combat-ready Armed Forces, and non-public but effective special services. The propaganda clichés that until 2019 "nothing was done to strengthen the country's defense capabilities either" are designed for the short memory, gullibility, and incompetence of consumers of consuming processed information.
One "experienced" expert even began to prove that Russia did not have a combat-ready army in 2014. This is, of course, nonsense. In February 2014, the size of the Russian armed forces was similar to its size in February 2022 - and amounted to about 1 million soldiers. Another 2.4 million were in other armed formations and law enforcement agencies. More than 2 million men who had completed military service constituted a ready-to-use military reserve. Russian troops had experience of combat use, in particular, in 2008, when they defeated the Georgian army in 5 days.
The nominal number of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, deprived of modern weapons and working military equipment, together with military students in February 2014, was about 103,000. Most of the soldiers are 18-year-old boys who have served 1 year of conscript service. According to the official report of the General Staff, at the end of 2013, 80% of the military units of the Armed Forces were fully or partially unprepared to perform combat missions. However, in 2014-2015, a combat-ready army was built, with its number increasing by 2.5 times.
At the beginning of 2014, Ukraine received a completely destroyed defense industry. Deprived of government orders, defense companies were driven to bankruptcy, equipment was cut up for scrap, property and land were sold off. And Yanukovych left only about one hundred thousand hryvnias and multibillion-dollar debt obligations on the state treasury accounts.
In those tragic days, our strategic partners refused to provide Ukraine with any military and technical aid. They explained that they did not want to irritate Putin and provoke a full-scale war in the center of Europe. Ukraine was not given a single round of ammunition, bulletproof vest or Kevlar helmet. Supplies of not only weapons but even equipment that can be used to manufacture weapons have been blocked. If Ukraine had received at least a tenth of the amount of modern aid, the situation in 2014 could have changed dramatically, and Mordor would have lost the desire to even approach our borders. Unfortunately, this did not happen, and the harsh and insane "partner embargo" lasted until the end of 2017.
Under such incredibly difficult circumstances, a capable Armed Forces was created, which stopped the enemy in the east and liberated a significant part of Ukrainian territory. To arm the Armed Forces, the national defense industry was revived in the shortest possible time. All the key models of modern Ukrainian weapons that have proven their effectiveness on the battlefield were created in 2014-2018. It was then, despite the complete blockade of military-technical cooperation with both the United States and the EU, that domestic production of small arms and armored vehicles, ammunition, including mines and large-caliber shells, as well as protective equipment, solid rocket fuel, and modern missile systems began.
Empty accusations that at that time the prospects of unmanned systems were not foreseen and no attention was paid to them are also not true.
Ukrainian UAVs Furia, Leleka, PD-1, Valkyrie, Spectator, and others were put into mass production and supplied to the troops. Watch archival footage of a successful test of a strike drone system similar to the Russian Lancet with a high-explosive and thermobaric warhead. Please note that these tests date back to September 2017, while the orcs began testing the Lancet only in June 2019.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine purchased Turkish Bayraktars, which proved to be very effective during Azerbaijan's military offensive against Armenia. But the main thing is that in 2018, Ukraine came close to testing its own strategic-level strike jet unmanned aerial vehicle.
Unfortunately, since 2019, all of these programs have been curtailed and suspended, as well as the production of mines and shells and even bulletproof vests and Kevlar helmets! Missile programs have been suspended for three years. We faced the Great War with only one model of the unique Bohdana self-propelled howitzer, which was not needed after 2018 and was put into production only at the end of 2023.
The "Ze-team" inherited a restored economy and billions of hryvnias in treasury accounts, a combat-ready army and reliable, insurmountable defensive lines in the East and South, and most importantly, hundreds of thousands of soldiers with combat experience in the ATO/JFO, who faced the brunt of the invasion and managed to turn the tide in the first year of the great war.
Therefore, to the domestic propagandists and especially to their customers who are trying to distort history, turning everything upside down and devaluing the feat and sacrifice of Ukrainians, I want to say that lies and distortion of facts will not be able to strengthen our defense, arm the army, increase the range of our missiles and UAVs and relieve you of responsibility!
Ihor Lapin, veteran of Russian-Ukrainian war
