Mikhail Podoliak argues that the West should be emboldened to send more arms to Ukraine after it thwarted Iran’s attack on Israel
FILE PHOTO: Mikhail Podoliak, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. © Emin Sansar / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Kiev expects a surge in supply of Western arms in the coming weeks, after an Iranian attack on Israel supposedly demonstrated overwhelming technological superiority of the US and its allies, President Vladimir Zelensky’s most senior adviser has said.
Tehran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel last weekend in what it said was retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on its consulate in Damascus earlier this month. According to Israel, the barrage caused only minor damage, as the US and other Western countries helped it intercept most of the Iranian weapons.
Prior to the strike, Western media said Iran was carefully calibrating its operation so that it could save face and not cause further escalation and possible war with the US.
In an interview on Thursday, Podoliak said the developments revealed Iran as a “worthless bubble of brags in the Middle East, just like Russia is.”
Read more
He added that he is hopeful that Western nations will now be bolder about arming Kiev.
”I believe that in the next several weeks Ukraine will be receiving significantly more arms, and that will affect the frontline,” he told Channel 24.
Ukrainian troops have done a “fantastic job” learning how to fight Western-style rather than Soviet-style, so now it is up to the West to give them the tools they need to achieve a common goal of “nullifying Russia” as it is, the Ukrainian official added.
He suggested that access to more Western military capabilities will allow Kiev to compensate for the lack of manpower. Ukraine wants to be a party that “fights with technology against a backward power that fights with men,” Podoliak said.
This month, Zelensky signed a mobilization law, intended to boost conscription by threatening harsh punishments to citizens avoiding the draft. In February, the president previously claimed that only 32,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the conflict so far. Russia estimates Ukrainian military casualties at over 444,000.
READ MORE: Kiev’s morale problems could lead to defeat this year – Politico
The Ukrainian military is suffering from poor morale amid shortages of weapons and personnel, with some senior officers expecting a collapse on the frontline this summer, unless Western donors significantly increase their assistance, Politico reported this week.
