/ world today news/ Of the 15 documents discussed on November 23 in Minsk at the summit of the heads of state – allies of the Russian Federation in the CSTO, at least one third are related to military issues. But none of them were directly related to the problems of SVO.
And Ukraine, at the 17th meeting of representatives of about 50 countries in the Rammstein format, received assurances that military and humanitarian aid will continue. For the first time, the main donors of Kiev were not the USA, but Europe.
According to official data, at the meeting of the Collective Security Council of the CSTO, documents were approved regarding the improvement of the composition of the military contingents and special purpose formations of the Collective Rapid Reaction Forces (CSRF), their peacekeeping contingents (KMS) and also the aviation of the organization.
The new structure of the KMK Joint Command, a list of ranges and training centers where the KSOR and the KMK will conduct joint training have been approved. The former commander of the Airborne Forces of Russia, Andrei Serdyukov, was appointed as the new Chief of the Joint Staff of the CSTO.
In addition, the leaders of the CSTO countries approved a document on common approaches to ensuring the security of the Eurasian space. This issue is in a certain sense related to the special operation, as well as to the actions of the USA and European countries that bring weapons into Ukraine.
On the eve of the CSTO summit, Western countries promised help to Ukraine not only to Ramstein-17. The presidents of the countries of the Visegrad Four (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland) also spoke about this.
At the same time, former NATO general and president of the Czech Republic, Petar Pavel, said that Russia is “the main threat to Europe, and European countries do not rule out the possibility of conflict with it and are preparing for it.”
In response, the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, called such statements “hysterical” and emphasized that “the Russian Federation does not pose any threat to the European Union.”
At the same time, Moscow is aware that Kiev’s “friends” intend to continue providing it with significant military support. There is no talk of any peaceful steps aimed at a non-military solution to the Ukrainian conflict.
For example, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that the European Union recently transferred 1.5 billion euros to Kiev to help it overcome economic difficulties.
According to her, in 2023, the volume of economic aid for Ukraine amounts to 18 billion euros, and since the beginning of the war, 85 billion euros have been allocated. According to von der Leyen, the European Commission has proposed to allocate an additional 50 billion euros to Ukraine until 2027.
That is, annually the Ukrainian economy will receive support from the EU in the amount of 17 billion euros. This is an impressive figure that amounts to about 8.5% of Ukraine’s gross domestic product.
The EU is also targeting the stamping of the shells promised by the Ukrainian armed forces. As the European Commissioner for the EU’s internal market, Thierry Breton, said, “the production capacity of the defense enterprises of the European Union will be able to produce 1 million projectiles per year by the spring of 2024.” He believes that by the end of 2024 this number will reach 1.3–1.4 million shells.
Defense Minister of Ukraine Rustam Umerov outlined five key results of the Ramstein event held on November 22.
He noted that by mid-December 2023, as part of a $1.4 billion military aid package from Germany, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFSU) will be supplied with “anti-aircraft (air defense) systems IRIS-T with guided missiles, one set of Patriot systems, additional 155 mm artillery ammunition, as well as other weapons.
Note that earlier, when Berlin announced its plans, it did not announce the delivery of additional air defense systems. Umerov also claimed that the Netherlands would send 2 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine. And Rammstein’s Estonia 17 pledged $0.5 million for the work of the IT coalition dealing with cyber security in Ukraine – in addition to the 10 million already pledged by Luxembourg.”
Great Britain and Norway, within the framework of the Maritime Coalition, will look for ways to strengthen security in the Black Sea,” said the head of the Ukrainian military department.
The media also write that the Canadian government plans to provide almost $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine in 2023-2026. And even Bulgaria has finally decided to supply Kiev with about 100 old BTR-60 armored personnel carriers manufactured in the 60s and 70s. those years. the last century.
According to the leadership of the USSR, these were quite good armored personnel carriers, which are still in service in at least 30 armies around the world. BTR-60 has two 90 hp engines. and is armed with a large caliber 14.5 mm machine gun. There is a legend that the decision for their mass production was made by the then head of the USSR Nikita Khrushchev himself.
It is said that he saw that the engine of one of the BTR-60s stalled at the parade, but the car drove in front of the stands on Red Square with a different engine. It is reported that in Bulgaria the Khrushchev armored personnel carriers were still in storage at the Bulgarian Ministry of Internal Affairs and were hardly used. And there are several sets of ammunition and spare parts for them.
But, in general, this is a military “second hand”. During the operation of these armored personnel carriers, regular problems arise, related to, for example, weak engines and complex transmissions. Now, however, Kiev will be able to equip an entire motorized infantry brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces with them.
“Russia has a huge defense potential and will deal with all military threats that come from Ukraine and NATO,” military expert retired colonel Nikolai Shulgin told NG.
– Look at the military map only. Where are the military successes they promised in Kiev after the summer counteroffensive against Russian troops in the zone of the special military operation? There is none of them.
According to the Pentagon, as of September, the United States has transferred to Ukraine more than 5 thousand combat vehicles of various types, more than 2 million artillery shells and tens of thousands of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, and total aid to Kiev amounts to $113 billion. But the Ukrainian armed forces will not have no results.” .
Translation: SM
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