The US and its allies promise additional weapons for Ukraine, but Kiev wants more

BRUSSELS – President Biden announced Wednesday billions more in arms and aid for Ukraine, while the United States and its allies met to create a response to growing demands urgent Ukraine advanced weapons to repel the Russian invasion.

The package, detailed by the Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III Following a meeting with allies at NATO headquarters in Brussels, it includes more long-range artillery, anti-ship missile launchers and more howitzers and a sophisticated US missile system that Ukrainians are currently undergoing training on.

Overall, the United States has made a commitment $ 5.6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24.

Biden said in a statement that he told the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky about the new weapons during a 40-minute phone call Wednesday morning.

Zelensky and his collaborators recently increased the public pressure on the West to supply far more of the sophisticated weapons it has already sent, questioning its allies’ commitment to the Ukrainian cause and insisting that nothing else can stop Russia’s relentless and brutal advance. in eastern Ukraine.

But Western officials and weapons experts warn this flood the battlefield with advanced weapons is much slower and more difficult than it looks when facing obstacles in the production, delivery, training and support, and prevents the depletion of Western arsenals.

On Thursday, the leaders of the major countries of the European Union (Germany, France and Italy) paid their first visit to Zelensky in Ukraine, in a show of solidarity, but it is not clear if they will have much to offer.

The leaders, the chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, the president of France Emanuele Macron and the prime minister Mario Draghi of Italy, expressed a desire for a quicker conclusion to the war through peace talks with Russia, causing unrest in Ukraine.

Austin, along with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, met defense officials from some 45 countries supporting Ukraine at NATO headquarters to try to assess what weapons does Ukraine need right now and how your allies can best provide them.

“We cannot donate ourselves luxury to melt and we cannot lose our strength, “Austin said opening the meeting, urging the allies to redouble their efforts to help Ukraine.

“We need to step up our shared commitment to Ukraine’s self-defense and we need to do even more to ensure that Ukraine can defend itself, its citizens and its territory,” he added.

He said Germany would offer Ukraine three multi-launch long-range artillery missile systems with ammunition. Slovakia promises helicopters and ammunition, e Canada, Poland and the Netherlands they promised more artillery.

The Russian army inside donbas relies heavily on its immense advantage in long-range artillery, hitting Ukrainian soldiers, as well as towns and cities, from a distance before attempting to advance.

The Ukrainians led them into combat body to bodyBoth sides reportedly suffered heavy losses.

“IS vital hold on there in the Donbas, ”Zelensky said in a video speech Wednesday morning.

“The more casualties the enemy suffers there, the less power he will have to continue the aggression.”

General Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Brussels that not only is the sovereignty of Ukraine at stake, but that “the rules-based international order is also threatened by Russia’s actions in Ukraine. . “

NATO defense ministers are preparing for the Alliance’s annual summit in Madrid this month, where it will present its first new strategic concept since 2010, when it described Russia as a potential partner.

The new position is under negotiation in draft but is intended to set a direction for NATO that sees Russia as an opponent and mentions the threats that China poses for the first time the transatlantic alliance.

Ministers are also discussing how to meet Turkeywhich suspended Swedish and Finnish applications for membership due to wider concerns about Kurdish separatism and terrorism.

In response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the sSwedes and Finns decided let go of your non-alignment long-time military and join NATO.

Ukrainian officials have called for more long-range artillery on a daily basis and have loudly complained that the West has been too slow to supply it.

The howitzers and rocket launchers delivered or promised by the US and others are not far below what Ukraine says it needs to match Russian firepower.

Mykhailo Podolyak, one of Zelensky’s top advisers, said this week that Ukraine needs 1,000 155mm howitzers, 300 multiple rocket launch systems and 500 tanks, among other things, to achieve parity on the ground. battle:

weapons several times heavier than he has

Austin and NATO insist they understand the urgency.

“Russia is using its fires of long range to try to overwhelm Ukrainian positions, “said Austin, a retired four-star army general.

The most advanced weapons the US has provided Ukraine to date include four truck-mounted HIMARS multi-launch rocket launchers, with rockets that have a range of up to 65 kilometers, more than anything Ukraine currently possesses.

The Ukrainian first team is expected to complete its training on the system on Wednesday and take the battlefield next week, a Biden administration official said.

The package announced Wednesday includes three more HIMARS launchers.

Germany has promised three similar pitchers and Britain had previously promised three.

The new US engagement also includes 18 M777 155mm howitzers, in addition to the 108 already delivered, and 36,000 shells for them.

Austin and General Milley rejected the accusation that the allies had been too cautious when he sent advanced weapons to Ukraine and claimed that everything was done in coordination with the Ukrainian military leadership.

“I think the international community has done a good job of providing that capability. But that’s never enough, ”Austin said.

“And we will continue to work hard to move as much capacity as possible as fast as possible“.

But promising weapons and delivering them are two different things.

It is one thing to send a large howitzer or a tank or thousands of artillery shells to the western borders of Ukraine.

But since the NATO countries do not want to risk direct confrontation with Russian forces, the transport from there must be carried out by Ukrainians or private contractors.

The simple transfer of arms through Ukraine to the eastern battlefields depends on Russian forces bombarding and bombing the railway and transport networks to cut off supplies.

The Ukrainian army remains no bullets for its artillery based on Soviet designs, some of which date back to the Soviet era, and Western countries do not produce compatible ammunition.

Former Soviet bloc countries such as Poland have little ammunition familiar to Ukrainian soldiers and run on their own weapons.

More modern Western equipment requires training, carried out in other countries, and trained Ukrainians are sent back to use equipment or train others.

Modern weapons also require sophisticated maintenance, which requires more training, and American weapons generally don’t use andmetric systemwhich means different tools and keys.

And different NATO member countries have different teams that require different training and tools.

The French have provided Ukraine with some of the more sophisticated around the world, the self-propelled howitzer Caesar.

Like the American M777, it fires 155mm bullets, but the operation of the two barrels is not the same.

And not only are sophisticated weapon systems expensive, but supply is limited and production is often slow.

Some countries that send weapons to Ukraine have expressed fears run out of stocks and undermine their national security, and some have secured commitments from the United States and others to provide replacements.

The United States also worried that the Ukrainians would not receive weapons with ranges so long that they could hit targets deep within Russia itself.

So it did not supply the HIMARS Mobile Rocket Launcher immediately, and it does not supply the long-range rockets that the system can use.

There are also concerns about keeping control of advanced technology.

Since then, there have been efforts to ensure Ukraine does this anti-ship missiles more sophisticated, to remove the Russian navy from the Ukrainian coast off Odessa.

But those missiles include technology that can only be exported after obtaining special permission, and it is feared that such weapons will not fall. in the hands of the Russians.

The United States and its allies have been careful to express solidarity with Ukraine’s plight and not to say that Kiev’s complaints about the pace of supply are unfair or unfounded.

“It’s an evolving list,” said US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith.

“The list that was given to us at the beginning of the conflict looks very different from the list we are talking about now. In the beginning we were very focused on air defense. Let’s move on to a conversation about ammunition. We’ve had moments where we talked about coastal defense. We are talking about heavy rocket artillery. We have changed the subject “.

NATO member countries will continue to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons and long-range systems and the allies will agree on a new assistance package in Kiev in consultation with Ukraine, the NATO Secretary General said.Jens Stoltenberg, before the meeting of defense ministers. Wednesday.

“Ukraine is in a very critical situation, so there is an urgent need for support,” he said.

Eric Schmitt, Michael D. Shear, and David E. Sanger contributed reports from Washington.

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