Russia is poised to gain the upper hand in Ukraine thanks to a larger force pool and material support from countries such as North Korea and China, Norwegian intelligence services warned on Monday.
Presenting the annual risk assessment report by the Norwegian security services, the head of military intelligence, Nils Andreas Stensønes, said that Kiev will need “substantial” Western military aid to hope to turn the situation around, writes La Libre Belgique.
“In this war, Russia is currently in a stronger position than a year ago and is gaining the upper hand,” Officer Stensønes told the media.
To back this up, he claimed that Russia “could mobilize about three times as many troops as Ukraine”, that “Moscow is adapting to sanctions better than expected” and that its industry is now capable of producing ammunition, combat vehicles, drones and missiles, allowing its forces to “maintain their war effort year-round”.
Important allies
Russia, he said, receives military support from North Korea, Iran, Belarus and China, which he said does not supply weapons but “machines, vehicles, electronics and spare parts” useful to the Russian arms industry.
“Substantial Western aid in armaments will be needed for Ukrainian forces to be able to defend themselves and regain the initiative in the conflict,” he stressed, recalling the need for ammunition, long-range weapons, anti-aircraft defenses, tanks and fighter jets. the fight.
Norway is, along with Denmark and the Netherlands, one of the European countries that has committed to providing Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets, an aircraft that Kiev insists on its allies.
