Ukraine renews call for stockpile of heavy weapons ‘to end war’

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Ukraine needed a stockpile of howitzers, drones, tanks, and other heavy weaponry “to end the war,” an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday.

"Being straightforward – to end the war we need heavy weapons parity: 1000 howitzers caliber 155 mm; 300 MLRS; 500 tanks; 2000 armored vehicles; 1000 drones. Contact Group of Defense Ministers meeting is held in #Brussels on June 15. We are waiting for a decision," Mykhailo Podolyak stated on Twitter.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is scheduled to host an in-person Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at NATO headquarters in Belgium, on Wednesday.

Ukraine has repeatedly stated its need for armaments and heavy weaponry to defend the country.

Over 4,390 civilians have been killed in Ukraine, including at least 1,120 women and 102 girls, while over 14 million people have been forced to flee their homes, including more than 7.3 million that have fled to other countries, since Russia launched a war on its neighbor on Feb. 24, according to UN figures.