WASHINGTON (AP) – The longer the Ukrainian army resists Russian occupiers, the more it absorbs the benefits of Western armaments and exercises, the same change President Vladimir Putin would have avoided by aggression.
The list of weapons imported into Ukraine is long and growing. Includes planes on America’s new battlefield and modern American and Canadian artillery. In addition to anti-tank weapons from Norway, etc .; Armored vehicles and anti-ship missiles from the UK; And the Stinger anti-aircraft missiles from the United States, Denmark and other countries.
If Ukraine defeats the Russians, the accumulated arsenal of Western weapons could have a transformative effect on a country that, like other former Soviet republics, was highly dependent on weapons and equipment during the Soviet era. .
But maintaining this military aid will not be easy. It is expensive and, for some supplier countries, politically dangerous. It also eliminates Western stocks that need to be replenished at some point. That’s why U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday called a meeting at Germany’s Ramstein Air Base to find ways to maintain it, now and in the long run. Defense ministers and military leaders from approximately 40 countries participated.
Austin said the goal is not only to support Ukraine’s defenses, but also help them fight off larger invaders. Speaking at the opening of the event on Tuesday, he said that Ukraine’s allies will “continue to move heaven and earth” to meet Ukraine’s immediate security needs.
“We believe they can win if they have the right equipment, the right support,” Austin said Monday after returning from a visit to Poland with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to discuss Ukraine’s military needs. He also said the goal was “to see Russia weaken to the point that it could not do what it did when it invaded Ukraine”.
Despite early failures, Russia’s military still has some advantages to try in the eastern Donbass region, where it is amassing more troops and guns, even if the US and its NATO allies are struggling to obtain artillery and other heavy weapons. Reach the place in time for the changes to take place.
After two months of fighting, the outcome of the war is questionable, with the Pentagon providing the U.S. military with 90 state-of-the-art howitzers, 183,000 artillery shells and other sophisticated weapons that can provide Ukrainians have a huge advantage in the upcoming battle. . The US is also conducting more training for Ukrainians on basic weapons, including howitzers and at least two types of armed drones.
On Monday, Austin and Blinken announced $ 713 million in foreign military funding for Ukraine’s 15 allies and partner countries; Approximately $ 322 million has been allocated to Kiev, in part to help Ukraine move to more advanced weapons and air defense systems. The rest will be divided between NATO members and other countries that have provided Ukraine with vital military supplies since the war with Russia began, officials said.
These funds are different from previous US military assistance to Ukraine. It is not a donation of weapons and equipment from Pentagon stocks, but money that countries can use to buy stocks they may need.
Ukrainians say they need more of these, including long-range air defense systems, fighters, tanks and multiple missile systems.
“It would be fair to say that the United States is now leading efforts to secure Ukraine’s transition to Western weapons, to conduct exercises for Ukrainian soldiers,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleva said. “From the beginning of the war”.
Philip Breedlove, a retired U.S. general who led NATO in Europe from 2013 to 2016, said his summary of what Putin wanted around Ukraine and Russia was elsewhere: “Tools, back NATO, not America “.
“What has happened is Putin is getting what he doesn’t want.” It’s providing more weapons, it’s promoting more NATO and it’s bringing more America to Europe, “Breedlove said in an interview.
The difficulty in maintaining Western military aid to Ukraine, even when its troops are fully engaged in a brutal war, reminds us of the bets. Prior to the invasion, Putin said Moscow would not tolerate Western attempts to make Ukraine a de facto NATO member. He said Ukraine’s interest in westernization and staying out of Russia’s orbit was driven by “external forces” such as US pressure.
Putin called on Ukraine to refuse to join NATO, and moreover he insisted on turning the clock back in 1997, when NATO began adding former Soviet and Soviet allies to its ranks.
There was little hope that Ukraine would join NATO, but Russia’s war really brought NATO closer to Ukraine. The result is the strengthening of Ukraine’s defense prospects for victory, including in the eastern Donbass region, where the Russians have some advantage and where Russia -backed separatists have been fighting since 2014.
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AP diplomatic writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
Source: Huffpost
