The Ukrainians don’t like Pakistani Made GrAd rockets.
Pakistan should stop giving ammunition to Ukraine and let them be overrun by the Russians!
Lack of ammunition is hampering Ukrainian fighters as they prepare an expected major offensive.
www.bbc.com
Ukraine war: Bakhmut defenders worry about losing support
7 hours ago
The call from Ukraine for more weapons and ammunition to bolster its defences has grown louder as the war has gone on
By Jonathan Beale
BBC Defence correspondent, Bakhmut
A year ago Volodymyr and his men were firing all 40 barrels of their BM-21 Grad rocket launcher in one go. Now they can only afford to fire a few at a time at Russian targets.
"We haven't got enough ammunition for our weapon," he explains.
His unit, the 17th Tank Battalion, is still being called on to provide fire support to Ukrainian forces desperately clinging on to the edges of Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city which Russia has spent months trying to capture.
Russian forces are getting ever closer to their goal of taking the city, but at enormous cost.
While we're waiting in a line of trees, hidden from view, Volodymyr receives a call to fire his rocket launcher at a Russian mortar position about 15 kilometres away.
Some of the Ukrainian Grad missile supplies are coming from the Czech Republic, Romania and Pakistan
His men remove the branches camouflaging their vehicle. They drive towards an empty field about a kilometre away and quickly work out the range.
They elevate the rocket barrels towards the target while, out of sight, a Ukrainian drone hovering above assesses their accuracy.
They're told their first rocket misses by about 50 metres, so they adjust the elevation and fire another two and quickly return to the trees for cover. This time they're told they've hit the target.
Volodymyr however, is frustrated they can't do more. "We could have provided more support to our guys who are dying there."
He says Ukraine has already burned through its own stocks of Grad ammunition, so is relying on rockets sourced from other countries. Volodymyr says supplies are coming from the
Czech Republic, Romania and Pakistan. He complains the rockets originating from Pakistan are "not of a good quality".