Ukraine Asks NATO for Boost in Military Support to Deliver Victory
by | Apr 23, 2023
Kiev’s war goals have changed from survival to victory, according to a top Ukrainian defense official. Ukraine’s more ambitious goals come as its Western backers have continued to provide more advanced weapons and training for Ukrainian soldiers.
The remarks from Ukrainian officials were made at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Germany. Speaking with NBC News at the summit, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said, “There is a very palpable conviction among the participants that Ukraine should win. That it will be a joint success.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Kiev’s goal is to reclaim all Ukrainian territory, including the Donbas and Crimea. The Crimean Peninsula was annexed by Moscow after a 2014 US-backed coup in Ukraine and the people of the region voted overwhelmingly to join the Russian Federation. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has admitted Crimea is a red line for the Kremlin and risks a major response.
Three Ukrainian officials said they were optimistic because past gatherings of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany have resulted in major arms transfers to Kiev. During this meeting of the UDCG, Kiev is pushing for more fighter jets and assistance combating the Russian navy in the Black Sea.
The White House has resisted pressure to send warplanes to Kiev for a year. However, the US and UK have begun training Ukrainian pilots on Western-made fighter jets. Additionally, some Eastern European countries have transferred Soviet-era MiG-29s to Ukraine.
Yuriy Sak, a Ukrainian defense official, believes the war with Moscow is long and Kiev will need F-16s to win. “This war is far from over. Russia is not going to disappear. Russia is not showing any signs they want to stop this war, either,” he said. “For us to be more efficient and successful on the battlefield, we will need fighter jets, we will need F-16s, because they will give us superiority in the air in the long-term.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba attacked the European Union last week for failing to deliver artillery munitions to Ukraine in a timely manner. “The inability of the EU to implement its own decision on the joint procurement of ammunition for Ukraine is frustrating,” he Tweeted.
Michael Kofman, director of the Russia Studies Program at the Center for Naval Analyses, made a recent trip to Ukraine and expressed that Western nations were delivering weapons but Kiev was struggling with the logistics of moving them to the front lines. “The main thing you hear on the front lines is the Ukrainian military…has internal distribution problems, so a lot of their gripes have to do with their own logistics.” He continued, “Things enter Ukraine but then all Ukrainian units have to find their way to getting those things, and there’s a lot of challenges in that.”
On Friday at the summit, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley announced the US was moving 31 Abrams Tanks to Germany where Ukrainian soldiers will learn the weapons system. After a ten-week training period, the tanks and troops will head to the battlefield.
Milley said the tanks were not a silver bullet, but he believes “when it’s delivered and it reaches its operational capability, [it] will be very effective on the battlefield.”
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also attended the 11th UDCG meeting. “Countries are thinking about how they can increase industrial production — not just for the near term but also for the medium term and the long term,” he said. “And that is a powerful reminder that we stand with Ukraine’s defenders for the long haul.”
Since the Russian invasion, the White House has worked with the military-industrial complex to increase the production of weapons. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks recently told reporters that the US is buying all the arms it possibly can for Kiev. “Make no mistake,” she said. “We are buying to the limits of the industrial base even as we are expanding those limits, and we’re continuing to cut through red tape and accelerate timelines.”
While Kiev seems primarily focused on naval support and warplanes, its Western partners are concerned about the country’s air defenses. Documents allegedly released by Jack Teixeira show Ukraine is projected to run out of interceptors during the coming weeks. Austin remarked, “Ukraine urgently needs our help to shield its citizens and infrastructure from Russia’s missile threat.”
Last week, Reznikov confirmed that the US and Germany had each transferred a Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine. He enthused that receiving the Patriot systems was like a “dream” and he was previously told that Kiev would never receive the interceptors. The UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace pledged that London will accelerate its arms shipments to Kiev, including air defense missiles. “The acceleration of military support was the focus of the meeting, with Ministers progressing deliveries to bolster Ukraine’s capabilities as they plan to expel Russian Forces from illegally occupied territory,” a statement from the UK government said.
posted by Satish Sharma at
15:23
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