While this was a nice gesture, would 101 random weapons bought off equally random Florida Men all at least share the same ammo? A gun’s just an awkward club without proper ammo.
Heaps of 7.62 here. Not so many 5.56 or 9mm, you have to import it, AK74 uses incompatible Soviet 5.45 caliber.
Assault rifles are welcome, anything is better than standard-issue AK74, which combines excess weight with poor accuracy and awkward handling. Even smaller guns are fine, SMGs are pretty much the same 200 meter effective range as AK while being shorter. As long as you can find ammo for them.
Please send some grenade launchers and RPGs, they are immediately useful.
You can use the more random arms for non front line use. Even if you need to find an ammo you don't normally stock, a normal police office only carries a few mags on hand anyways.
Real issue is actually going to be a (lack of) full auto. Sincerely doubt anything in these pics is an MG. Even if Ukraine fabricates automatic components (drop-in-auto-sears do exist for ARs), the barrels aren't going to hold up to automatic fire well.
They might be useful in a police/border guard/militia capacity, though?
Are the Ukrainian grunts really using full auto that much? Does trench warfare make it useful in a way that urban and mobile warfare doesn't use? My understanding is that basically no one outside of designated machinegunners really use full auto.
Anyway, like you said, at the very least it'll free up other weapons for the front lines.
I've seen them use auto bursts plenty of times in combat footage. They need suppressing fire for dismounting their troop carriers and usually empty mags into trenches.
It might could work in a pinch, especially if they used the ARs as squad marksman rifles? I just doubt its the kind of compromise Ukraine wants to make for its front-line equipment.
Depends, looks like the rifles here are AK and AR style, so they probably take 7.62mm (which I imagine is pretty common in Eastern Europe) and 5.56/.223 (which the US military is probably supplying them by the bucket), respectively. That said, the hand guns are probably a mix of .22, 9mm, and .45 among other random less common calibers
The 7.62x51 NATO round used in AR-10/LR-308 pattern rifles isn't the same as the common 7.62x39 used in AK-47 pattern rifles. But I'm sure getting NATO ammo isn't exactly hard for them right now.