The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, who visited Washington two days ago, could not agree with the American leadership on the delivery of tanks and long-range missiles to Kiev, writes the “New York Times”, quoted by glasove .com.
During the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington, the administration of Joe Biden solemnly announced that it will supply Ukraine with the first “Patriot” missile defense system. However, Zelensky requested several more weapons, but they were refused, citing the risks of an escalation of the war, writes The New York Times. From the outside it may seem that the administration’s perception of risks is changing: for example, in the first months of the war, the supply of HIMARS was not even discussed. According to the publication’s sources, however, the process for making those decisions is different.
Washington is monitoring the changing nature of the war, and therefore the needs of Ukraine, the paper’s sources believe. For example, HIMARS rocket launcher systems became available when it became clear that Ukraine needed weapons with a longer range than Russian artillery to destroy headquarters and ammunition dumps far behind the front lines. However, HIMARS’s longest-range missiles, the ATACMS, have not been sent to Kiev (and still aren’t) because it is believed that if Ukraine gets into trouble, it could start firing these missiles on undisputed territory Russia and give Russian President Vladimir Putin a reason to escalate the war. “Patriot” fits into this logic, as Ukraine now has to defend itself against missile attacks against targets in the rear.
Currently, the newspaper’s sources point to three main types of weapons that Washington is not ready to supply. The first are long-range ones, such as ATACMS.
The latter are particularly high-tech products such as the MQ-1C Gray Eagle and MQ-9 Reaper heavy drones. The Pentagon fears they could be shot down or crash e
fall into the hands of the Russians.
Finally, the third group is weapons that require extensive training and an advanced support system. These include American Abrams tanks and F-16 fighters. The US administration believes that Ukraine has enough tanks and aircraft of Soviet models, which the Ukrainian military is familiar with.
But Washington still does not want a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO and believes that this danger has not diminished in any way, writes the New York Times.
Meanwhile, next year’s budget has been voted on in the United States.
The US Congress approved a $1.7 trillion budget, in which nearly $45 billion is earmarked for aid to Ukraine.
At the same time, the Washington Post writes about it
the weakness of the United States is the shortage of artillery equipment
of any kind.
The publication quoted Pentagon spokeswoman Christine Warmuth as saying that the US defense industry can currently produce around 14,000 155mm caliber rounds a month. In her turn, an anonymous military source indicated that the Ukrainian army fired such a number of shells in two days.
Warmuth notes, however, that an increase in the production of howitzer shells is expected. However, it is not yet known how long this will take. The Ukrainian Armed Forces use American long-range M777 howitzers of 155 mm caliber. The German PzH 2000, the Polish Krab and the French CAESAR have the same caliber.
