In his speech this month at the Munich Security Conference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged his allies to speed up the delivery of defense equipment to Ukraine, lamenting that political decisions on this matter have not evolved as quickly as the weaponry in this war.
The various types of military technology from NATO countries, considered crucial on the battlefield, have undergone radical changes in this war, now in its fifth year, to the point where the most coveted weapons at one time have taken on a completely secondary role as the reality of the war has shifted.
With the help of Ukrainian military analyst Oleksandr Kovalenko, EFE analyzes the evolution of the situation to which Zelensky recently alluded.
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Bayraktar, the Turkish drone that inspired a song
One of the "star weapons" in the early days of the invasion was the Turkish-made drone Bayraktar, which even inspired a very popular song in Ukraine at that time.
The Bayraktar drones have lost their initial relevance due to their vulnerability to more sophisticated air defense systems that both sides rapidly developed, and are now only used as reconnaissance drones.
No less popular were the American HIMARS mobile rocket launchers.
The use of HIMARS - which continues to be effectively used in the war - was decisive in the destruction of the Antonov Bridge in the Herson region of southern Ukraine, an action that led to Russia's withdrawal from the regional capital of the same name in the fall of 2023.
A similar situation occurred with ATACMS, American ballistic missiles that Ukraine began to use successfully just before the liberation of Herson.
As in other cases, ATACMS are now less effective, as Russia has found ways to counter them.
Extinguishing a fire with a glass of water
As with other systems, the limited number of ATACMS missiles that Ukraine received had a negative impact on their effectiveness in the field.
In an interview with EFE, former Ukrainian Defense Minister Andrii Zagorodniuk emphasized that the pace at which Europe and the US sent various types of weapons to Kyiv decisively limited Ukraine's potential in the war.
Zelensky alluded to the same thing in his speech at Munich.
Even when Ukraine received them, many systems arrived with limitations on their use by Kyiv or without all the equipment they needed to operate at full capacity.
Trump's Patriot systems and Javelin missiles
The most coveted armament for Kyiv at this stage of the war is undoubtedly the American Patriot air defense system and its missiles, the only weapon, along with the SAMP/T systems, capable of intercepting the ballistic missiles that Russia is increasingly using.
A significant part of the diplomatic activity of the Zelensky administration focuses on mobilizing its allies to find and acquire additional missiles and systems that will allow Ukraine to protect critical infrastructure, such as its energy system, from Russian ballistic missiles.
Another type of anti-aircraft weapon that remains important, albeit for very different reasons, is the portable anti-tank missile Javelin, which played a significant role in defending the Ukrainian capital in the early days of the war.
The Javelin missiles have returned to public attention in the last year due to President Donald Trump, who has not missed an opportunity to remind everyone that they were sent by his first administration to Ukraine when no one in the West was providing lethal military equipment to the Ukrainians.