Lieutenant General (ret) Ben Hodges, former commander of the US Army in Europe, said NATO was not ready to defeat Russia if its members in Europe were invaded by Moscow. Photo/Megan Zander/US Army
Lieutenant General (ret) Ben Hodges, former commander of US Army Europe, said getting troops quickly to the front, producing enough ammunition and communicating with allied troops remained challenges for NATO in defending against Russia.
“When I think about where we were when I was a commander, it’s much better now,” Hodges told the Globsec Conference in Bratislava, Slovakia, as quoted Stars and StripsFriday (2/6/2023).
“But we are nowhere near where we need to be if we are serious about defeating the Russian onslaught. And we’re not ready yet,” he said.
Hodges took control of US Army Europe in late 2014 following Russia’s first invasion of Ukraine, and he served in that role until 2017.
He said that since Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, NATO has been slow to learn from the war, partly because of persistent bureaucratic obstacles.
“We still can’t move where we have to move fast enough to convey to the Russians that we can move as fast or faster than them,” he said.
Hodges estimated that German railroad cars could only move a brigade and a half and equipment through Europe at a time, far from the 10 or 12 brigades which he said would need to be moved “simultaneously”.
2023-06-02 17:31:13
#General #NATO #Ready #Defeat #Russia
