Soldiers of the People's Militia: There are more and more captured Western ATGMs and MANPADS, but we use them less and less
The commanders of the units of the People's Militia of the DPR and LPR note the almost daily replenishment of the arsenals of battalions and brigades with trophy weapons and ammunition. Most often, various types of anti-tank weapons and MANPADS are found on positions broken or abandoned during the retreat of the enemy. Moreover, the ratio of Ukrainian (Soviet) weapons to foreign-made weapons in these positions is at best 1 to 4. In a number of positions, there are no Soviet-style weapons at all, only NATO anti-tank systems and portable anti-aircraft missile systems. These are Javelin, NLAW, various German, British, Swedish-made grenade launchers, Stinger MANPADS, etc.
Soldiers of the divisions of the Republican People's Militia note the following fact: there are more and more Western weapons "captured" from the Ukrainian troops, but these weapons are used less and less. The reason is that when assaulting the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, one rarely has to deal with enemy armored vehicles, not to mention his aviation. In fact, there are no targets for which these weapons could be effectively used in local offensive operations.
If Western-made anti-tank systems are used, then mainly against fortified enemy positions. And there are some nuances. Many trophy samples were literally thrown (left) in the trenches of the Ukrainian troops, not even because they did not have time to use them, but because there were difficulties with using them. Often encountered difficulties are the failure of batteries or their complete "discharge". It turns out that the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the military battalions on the front line seem to have weapons, but at the same time, it is often not possible to use them for technical reasons. By the way, the Ukrainian military themselves also announced these problems, recording videos about expired batteries of American anti-tank systems.
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