“We’ll have to disarm to the skin”: why the United States announced the possible loss of interest of the allies in military assistance to Ukraine

The scale of the military, financial and other assistance provided to Kyiv by Western countries in the future may be in question.

Jonathan Finer, Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Affairs, stated this at a conference at the Atlantic Council * in Washington on June 22.

“The real challenge for all of us will be to maintain this (providing support to Ukraine in current volumes. -

) for a long time,” he said.

According to him, Russia is allegedly counting on a decrease in activity on the issue of assistance to Kyiv from the West.

At the same time, Finer stressed that while support for Ukraine from the allies remains at a high level.

In particular, the country, according to him, is provided with "a huge amount of artillery weapons."

“I don’t see indecision.

In my opinion, we are trying to respond to the needs of Kyiv as we analyze them, ”Finer said.

• Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs Jonathan Finer

• Gettyimages.ru

• © William B. Plowman/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

As John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the US National Security Council, later said at a briefing at the White House, Washington will supply Kyiv with a new $450 million military aid package.

The Pentagon explained that this tranche will include four HIMARS MLRS, 18 boats, 36 thousand artillery shells, 1.2 thousand grenade launchers and 2 thousand machine guns.

Kirby, in turn, clarified that since February, the United States has provided Ukraine with military assistance in the amount of $6.1 billion.

To your detriment

Meanwhile, as experts state, the commitment of Western countries to the idea of ​​providing Ukraine with as many weapons as possible is already reflected in their own arsenal.

In particular, the head of the German Defense Ministry, Christina Lambrecht, in an interview with the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper in early April, said that the Bundeswehr had exhausted the possibilities for supplying weapons from its stocks.

And German Vice-Chancellor, Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection Robert Habek, in an interview with Die Welt on May 28, stressed that the republic cannot satisfy all the wishes of Kyiv in terms of weapons.

In turn, the French media note that the head of the Fifth Republic, Emmanuel Macron, having decided to increase the number of CAESAR self-propelled artillery mounts (ACS) sent to Kyiv to 18 units, thus gives away a quarter of his own stocks of this type of weapon.

A serious gap in its arsenal after deliveries to Ukraine was also found in the UK.

So, the chief of the defense staff of the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom, Tony Radakin, at a hearing in the House of Lords, said that it could take more than one year to replenish stocks.

“We are talking about years, because it is impossible to establish a rapid production of modern types of weapons at the snap of a finger.

You can put ammunition and artillery on stream, but it will take us several years to return to the original level of stocks of even not the most modern weapons, even modest (anti-tank missile systems. -

) NLAW, ”he said.

"We will fight with shovels"

At the same time, the Kyiv regime expresses dissatisfaction with the volume of weapons that it receives from the West.

Thus, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the end of May, in an address to citizens following the results of the World Economic Forum in Davos, said that Western partners should provide Ukraine with "full assistance" without exceptions and restrictions.

Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba also pointed out the country's urgent need for weapons at a briefing in early June.

“Some partners may get the impression that everything is more or less normal with weapons in Ukraine.

In fact, it is not so,” he says.

Later, on June 19, in an interview with the ARD television channel, Kuleba noted that Ukraine cannot “win the war” if Russia maintains an arms advantage.

At the same time, he added that even if the Western allies stop supplying weapons to Kyiv, he will still fight.

“If we don’t get weapons, then we will fight with shovels.

So, the sooner we get weapons, the sooner they supply them to us, the more it will help us,” Kuleba said.

• Ukrainian soldiers with an American M-777 howitzer

• AP

• © Efrem Lukatsky

In turn, the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Denis Sharapov, in an interview with National Defense on June 15, emphasized that in order to meet Ukrainian needs for weapons, "it is necessary to use the military-industrial complex throughout the world."

He also noted that now "supplies cover only 10-15% of the needs" of the country.

At the same time, the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not consider all weapons supplied by the West to be effective.

In particular, the publication Foreign Policy (FP), citing the Ukrainian military, writes that the American MQ-1C Gray Eagle drone and the Turkish Bayraktar-TB2 UAV are virtually useless due to the increased air defense (air defense) of Russia.

Thus, FP sources claim that Gray Eagle drones are defenseless against Russian air defense systems, although they can complete one or two missions before they are shot down.

“In our case, it is very dangerous to use such expensive drones because of the enemy’s air defense.

This is not Afghanistan, ”said one of the interlocutors of the publication.

anxiety fatigue

In general, in Kyiv, more and more often, some fatigue of Western partners from the current situation is noted.

Zelensky, in particular, drew attention to this at a meeting with journalists on June 6, emphasizing that because of this, Ukraine is being pushed into unfavorable agreements with Russia.

“Everyone wants to push us a little towards some result that is definitely not beneficial for us, but beneficial for certain parties that have their own interests.

Interests are again different: both financial and political,” Zelensky is quoted by the Ukrainian edition of Strana.

The head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov also criticized foreign partners, namely Europe.

“Either the world does not fully understand what is happening, or it understands, but it is tired, and the death of a certain number of Ukrainians suits everyone,” he told The Economist on June 12.

According to him, Ukraine for Germany and France has become "a rather annoying obstacle on the way to a comfortable life."

Dmytro Kuleba, in an article for Foreign Affairs on June 17, stressed that the West "should understand exactly how Ukraine can win" and then support it "in an appropriate way."

"Required resource missing"

According to experts, the issue of further arms supplies to Ukraine is of concern today not only to the United States, but also to Europe, since its capabilities are not so extensive.

“The military-industrial complexes of the leading European countries are clearly not designed for such a scale of spending on weapons and military equipment that is observed in Ukraine.

In order to meet the needs of Kyiv, Europe will actually have to disarm to the skin in order to ensure uninterrupted supplies to Kyiv, ”Vladimir Batyuk, head of the Center for Military-Political Studies of the Institute for the US and Canadian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, explained in an interview with RT.

• President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky

• AP

• © Natacha Pisarenko)

He recalled that the military potential of Europe and its arsenal has undergone significant reductions since the end of the Cold War.

Moreover, the EU has come to rely heavily on the military power of the United States, which offered the NATO "umbrella".

“The European allies of the United States simply do not have the necessary resources to satisfy the growing appetite of Kyiv.

In addition, deliveries cannot be reduced simply to the transfer of a certain amount of "iron".

It is also necessary to provide ammunition, maintenance, which is not possible to provide promptly.

This begs the question: are arms deliveries to Ukraine really effective?”

Batyuk says.

In addition, as Vadim Kozyulin, head of the Center for Global Studies and International Relations at the IAMP Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noted in a conversation with RT, the interest of the European public in the Ukrainian conflict is declining as it requires more time.

“Moreover, the European society has already faced economic and energy difficulties caused by the Ukrainian agenda, which cannot but irritate the Europeans,” he said.

He did not rule out that the Ukrainian conflict could become one of those episodes that is still going on, but in which world interest has already faded, as was the case, in particular, with the intervention of Saudi Arabia in Yemen.

“Ukraine will follow approximately the same path.

Europe will get tired of this news, the difficulties that refugees create, the cost of military supplies hitting budgets, and sooner or later they will start asking questions: “Why do we need all this if the situation is only getting worse?”

Kozyulin explained.

Nevertheless, the editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine, Igor Korotchenko, in a commentary on RT, suggested that in the foreseeable future, a reduction in the volume of weapons imports to Ukraine should not be expected.

In his opinion, Russia should focus not on increasing deliveries, but on ensuring that they do not fall into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“The West is working to get Russia bogged down in Ukraine.

Therefore, regardless of any circumstances, the volume of arms deliveries will only increase.

We must proceed from the worst-case scenarios for ourselves in order to fend off any unfavorable scenarios for the development of the situation.

While time is working for us,” he concluded.

* The Atlantic Council of the United States is an organization whose activities are recognized as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation by decision of the Prosecutor General's Office dated 07/25/2019.