Hans Petter Midttun
Sept 9, 2024
During the meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group at the NATO Ramstein Air Base on 6 September, Ukraine presented its three priorities: Air defence (AD) systems and AD missiles; ammunition and equipment for the new brigades; and strengthening Ukraine’s long-range capabilities.
President Zelenskyy stressed that many of the pledged air defence systems had not yet been delivered and emphasised the need for more F-16s. The F-16s are already filling some of the persistent gaps in the AD network.
Ukraine is conducting an offensive in the Kursk oblast and Russia is intensifying its efforts to capture Pokrovsk. Again, it is urgently asking for AD, weapons, and ammunition. It is, therefore, ironic that most of the $7.8 billion in the US Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) remains unused. The Biden administration is engaged in urgent discussions with Congress to allow it to use up $6 billion in military aid for Ukraine before the end of the 2024 fiscal year on 30 September.
President Zelenskiy also urged its allies to ignore Russia’s “red lines” and allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons to strike legal targets on Russian territory to motivate Russia to seek peace.
The use of donated US weapons for long-range strikes into Russia will not turn the tide of the war for Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin argued. He argued that Russia has already moved the combat aircraft delivering guided glide bombs outside the range of ATACMS missiles.
His response ignores several critical factors. Firstly, there are at least 209 other fixed Russian military objects in range of ATACMS but outside the range of the HIMARS that the US does allow Ukraine to use in Russia under some circumstances.
Secondly, the argument ignores the temporarily established ammunition depots, field HQs, GLOC and more, established to support Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
Thirdly, it ignores the presence of 48 Iskander launchers and recent reports that Iran has just delivered hundreds of Iranian Ababil close-range ballistic missiles and Fateh-360 short-range ballistic missiles to Russia. More shipments of Iranian missiles to Russia are expected. This represents another escalation of the war.
Lastly, Austin ignores the horrific consequences of allowing Russia to launch ballistic missiles and missiles with a ballistic trajectory from what has effectively become a Russian sanctuary. Ukrainian civilians are being killed, wounded and maimed. Cities and critical infrastructure are being destroyed.
In these contexts, the Russian relocation of its combat jets has no bearing on Ukraine’s urgent need to destroy all the other key enablers, command and control nodes and logistical hubs allowing Russia to continue its crimes against humanity.
It is rather telling that Russia continues to escalate because the West fears escalation.
Cartoon: Patrick Blower
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Yuri Jexenev
Iran has supplied Moscow with its Shahed attack drone to use on the battlefield. Tehran has always denied this, saying the deliveries were made before the start of the war.
The United States has informed allies that it believes Iran has transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia to use in its war in #Ukraine, according to two people familiar with the matter.
They did not offer any details about how many weapons have been delivered or when the transfers took place, but did confirm the US intelligence findings.
The White House declined to confirm the weapons transfers but reiterated its concerns that Iran is deepening its support of Russia.
The White House has warned Tehran for months against transferring ballistic missiles to Russia.
“Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and lead to the killing of more Ukrainian civilians,” National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said in a statement.
“This partnership threatens European security and illustrates how Iran’s destabilizing influence reaches beyond the Middle East and around the world.”
Iran has been supplying Russia with weaponry to use on the battlefield in the form of its Shahed attack drone since autumn 2022.
They are regarded as the most significant contribution Tehran has made to Russia’s war effort because of the amount of damage they’re able to inflict.
Speaking at a rare public event in #London, the heads of the #British and #American foreign intelligence agencies said the incursion was a significant achievement that could change the narrative of the war.
“It’s typically audacious and bold on the part of the Ukrainians, to try and change the game in a way. And I think they have, to a degree, changed the narrative around this,” said MI6 chief, Richard Moore.
“The Ukrainians, by going in and taking #Kursk, have really brought the war home to ordinary Russians.”
“It’s not only been a boost in Ukrainian morale, it has exposed some of the vulnerabilities of Putin’s Russia and of his military,” said Director of the CIA, William Burns.
Yuri comments on his own post :
Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
Верховна Рада України
Depriving Ukraine of nuclear weapons under the Budapest Memorandum is a strategic mistake of the West!
As long as Russia, Iran, China and North Korea possess nuclear weapons, I call on Ukraine to make every effort to return to the club of nuclear-weapon states.