Military assistance from the Netherlands to Ukraine has reached about €1.07 billion over the past six weeks, Defense Minister Kaisa Ollongren said in a letter to the House of Representatives.
“The total cost of military assistance to Ukraine as of January 24 amounted to about €1.07 billion,” RIA Novosti quotes a document addressed to the lower house of parliament.
It is noted that of this amount, more than €463.8 million was spent by the Dutch authorities on military equipment and equipment that they supplied to the Kyiv regime.
According to Ollongren, assistance to Ukraine affects the readiness of the Dutch Armed Forces, but at the moment the situation allegedly remains acceptable.
In the long term, the state should develop a plan to replenish stocks and purchase new equipment, she said.
After that, the head of the Ministry of Defense announced that the Netherlands, together with Germany and Denmark, would supply Kyiv with about 100 Leopard 1 tanks and ammunition.
Earlier, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte promised that his country would allocate €2.5 billion in 2023 for military and humanitarian support to Ukraine.
Prior to this, the Hague also announced the delivery of two Patriot air defense missile launchers and missiles for Kyiv.
At the same time, the Dutch leadership also does not exclude the possibility of supplying Ukraine with F-16 fighters or paying for the shipment of German Leopard tanks to Kyiv.
In addition to the Netherlands, this month the United States also announced another arms tranche for Ukraine in the amount of about $2.2 billion.
The new package will include air defense systems, ammunition for Javelin anti-tank missile systems, as well as "conventional and long-range missiles" for HIMARS.
As specified in the Pentagon, we are talking, in particular, about GLSDB bombs with a flight range of up to 150 km.
Earlier, US President Joe Biden promised to send 31 Abrams tanks to Kyiv.
In total, under Biden, the United States provided $30 billion in security assistance to Kyiv.
In addition, France and Italy will send Ukraine an air defense system jointly developed by Samp / T - Mamba in the spring.
It is specified that this is a European long-range anti-missile complex of Franco-Italian development.
Poland, in turn, expressed its readiness to transfer F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, but only after a joint decision of the NATO countries was made.
Britain also does not rule out sending fighter jets to Kyiv.
Germany, for its part, has already confirmed that Berlin has approved the transfer of Leopard 1 tanks to Kyiv. According to the Business Insider online publication, the German government will allow two German defense companies to supply 187 Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine. It is specified that Rheinmetall will transfer 88 pieces of equipment to Kyiv , and Flensburger Fahrzeugbau Gesellschaft - 99. The first tanks from Germany will arrive in Ukraine no earlier than in the middle of 2023,
writes Business Insider.
In January, Canada announced the delivery of four Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, and last week sent the first such armored vehicle.
"Will not change the outcome of the situation"
Against the background of these planned arms deliveries to Kyiv, the thesis in Western media is increasingly heard that such efforts are not able to significantly improve the combat capability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and lead Ukraine to victory.
So, on January 29, journalist Christopher Roach, in an article for The American Greatness, said that the Western arms trenches would not save the Armed Forces of Ukraine from defeat and would not change the course of the confrontation.
“Talks about a winter offensive by the Ukrainian army faded away as casualties mount and Russia surrounds concentrated Ukrainian forces,” he writes.
- The West and its leaders are either in a state of strongest denial (reality.
- RT
), or deliberately destroy their limited stocks of weapons and ammunition for some insidious purpose.
At the moment, there is no prospect of a Ukrainian victory, and a few hundred Wunderwaffe units will not change the outcome of the situation.”
Ukrainian military
© Mustafa Ciftci
Roach added that even senior US military leaders "began to express doubts", although initially they were "very optimistic about the Ukrainian campaign" and actively supported it.
The journalist believes that Russia can produce more weapons and ammunition than the entire West.
“The Russian industrial age economy seems well suited to waging a war of attrition, as the country is able to produce food and other essential goods for its people, while simultaneously producing tanks, countless kamikaze drones, and an order of magnitude more artillery shells, than her opponent,” said Roach.
He added that Russia has domestic factories and technologies for the production of "mountains of artillery shells" that destroy "Ukrainian forces in large numbers."
At the same time, the journalist drew attention to the fact that the Ukrainian economy, on the contrary, is “almost completely destroyed”, and its public finances and military budget are “entirely dependent” on Western subsidies.
Western leaders themselves have "mistaken" economic activity as "productive capacity," Roach writes.
He cites the example that the United States and NATO can create very sophisticated weapons systems, such as F-35 fighter jets or Patriot air defense systems, “but only as part of a long and expensive process.”
“The Western arms industry is not optimized either in terms of speed or in terms of production volumes.
It will take years to catch up, ”says the journalist.
He also believes that the modern Western tanks promised to Kyiv are “complicated, require labor-intensive maintenance and lengthy crew training,” especially since the West can only supply them “in very small numbers.”
Later, on February 5, the Financial Times published an article stating that the American Abrams tanks, which Washington intends to send to Ukraine, require serious logistical and logistical support.
It is also noted that training in the operation of these armored vehicles will take even more time than similar training on German Leopard tanks.
In addition, using Abrams requires more parts, which must be sourced from the US, and jet fuel, which is harder to come by.
As reported in turn by the American magazine Newsweek, the infrastructure in Ukraine may not withstand the weight of Western tanks, including Abrams, which were promised to the Kyiv regime.
In particular, the bridges, as well as the pontoon crossing equipment of the Ukrainian military, are designed for lighter vehicles.
"Under pressure from Washington"
As retired colonel director of the air defense museum in Balashikha Yuri Knutov noted in an interview with RT, despite the fact that the military-economic potential of the Netherlands, the United States and other Western countries has not yet been exhausted and they can supply weapons to Kyiv, such assistance is still not capable of significantly extent to influence the course of hostilities in Ukraine.
“If we look at the number of military deliveries, then the United States comes first, and then the rest of the Western countries, including the Netherlands.
All these arms trenches are designed to escalate hostilities.
As for the Netherlands, this country has distinguished itself by its Russophobia, anti-Russian sentiments, and now, when it has become possible to realize its ambitions directed against the Russian Federation, it is happy to take advantage of the situation, ”Knutov said in an interview with RT.
At the same time, the United States is motivating Western countries to provide Kyiv with additional military assistance, the analyst noted.
“They set a certain trend in supplies.
Thus, the latest US package, in addition to other weapons, contains GLSDB missiles with a range of 150 km.
These munitions are ground-based bombs, they use engines from the HIMARS rocket.
The striking warhead itself is actually an adjustable small-caliber bomb.
However, these missiles will become a target for the RF Armed Forces.
Russia has means of combating planning bombs - these are, first of all, the Pantsir, Tor-M2 complexes and the Buk systems," Knutov said.
Anti-aircraft missile and gun complex (ZRPK) "Pantsir-S1" in position.
Archive photo
RIA News
A similar opinion is shared by military expert Ivan Konovalov.
According to him, GLSDB missiles can maneuver, but this will not be a problem for the Russian Armed Forces.
“I am sure that Russian air defense systems can perform very well against these missiles.
In addition to the Tor and Buk complexes, if necessary, you can use the S-300, S-400 - all of them will be able to intercept GLSDB, especially since they have a low speed, ”the analyst said in a comment to RT.
In addition, the Russian Aerospace Forces will continue to strike at the communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on the supply of Western equipment, which will partly prevent it from entering the battlefield, Knutov believes.
According to him, the main goal of the West in the current pumping of Ukraine with weapons is to prepare it "for a strategic spring offensive."
“But it is already clear that the resources of the Kyiv regime, despite serious economic and military assistance from the West, are severely depleted, and the army is exhausted.
Western weapons are far from all suitable for combat operations in Ukraine.
In particular, Western tanks weigh more than 60 tons, they are less maneuverable and mobile than domestic models.
It is unlikely that they will greatly help the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
It is quite possible that just after the failed offensive, the Kyiv regime will be more inclined to negotiate and conclude a peace treaty on Russian terms, ”Knutov suggested.
In turn, military expert Ivan Konovalov noted that due to the current supply of weapons to Ukraine from Western countries, “their stocks are already running out, and it will take a lot of time to produce new weapons.”
“A particularly deplorable situation is observed in the European countries of NATO, which are already not fully coping with arms supplies to Kyiv, taking into account the economic and energy crisis in the EU states.
Further adherence to Washington's instructions will be disastrous for them, but they cannot refuse.
This is especially evident in the example of the leadership of Germany, which until the last moment did not agree to the transfer of tanks to Kyiv, but ultimately surrendered under pressure from Washington, ”the expert explained.
Konovalov also believes that the continuation of arms supplies to Kyiv is a strategic dead end for both NATO European countries and the United States, which are actually leading this process.
“The United States is leading other Western countries, calling for Kyiv to be pumped with weapons, but they move by inertia and cannot predict the exact consequences of their actions,” the analyst concluded.