06/13/2024
The current situation at the front remains difficult. The Russian occupation army is actively operating in several directions simultaneously. Heavy rains, which are forecast to cover the entire Ukraine in the coming days, will certainly affect enemy activity. However, you shouldn’t count on “General Rain” to be your salvation. The main bet, as usual, must be placed on the resource of the Ukrainian army.
And it still largely depends on its allies. In particular, the United States, which has a hundred Patriot systems, will transfer one more to Ukraine – the second, which is the minimum possible assistance to strengthen air defense.
At the same time, the capabilities of the domestic military-industrial complex are growing, and in the future, Ukrainian unmanned systems will be able to hit the enemy thousands of kilometers from Ukraine.
This opinion was expressed in an exclusive interview with OBOZ.UA by the former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Igor Romanenko.
– US President Biden agreed on the supply of the Patriot system to Ukraine. At the same time, the head of the German Ministry of Defense promised that “in the near future” our country will receive a hundred missiles for this system. In your estimation, how serious is this strengthening of our air defense?
– This help is minimal – minimum minimorum. Perhaps Italy will provide us with another SAMP/T battery. But the allies still cannot assemble the seven announced Patriot batteries. There are about a hundred Patriot batteries in the United States, and they only give Ukraine a second one. Of course, this is very important, but the issue cannot be resolved so slowly.
Discussions about this have been going on for several months – against the backdrop of what is happening in Kharkov and in cities in the south of our country. On June 12, attacks were carried out on targets in Kyiv and the Kyiv region. And the issue of strengthening our air defense has still not been resolved.
After a six-month pause in US military assistance, who has learned what? Ukraine has learned that it is necessary to listen to allies’ statements, calls and the like, and then watch how they are implemented in practice.
The US President meets with the President of Ukraine, apologizes for the delay to him and to the Ukrainian people, but at the same time approves an aid package after this six-month pause for “as much as” $225 million. These are consumables.
We need to clearly determine what to do next. Until the Americans and other allies take a qualitatively new approach to supplying weapons to Ukraine (and today they are transferring old weapons, and very slowly), the situation at the front will only get worse.
Please note that during this six-month pause, when the situation became critical, we were given 300 million worth of consumables and some shells to keep us going. But at the same time, Israel received the F-35 and two types of bombs. And at the same time, Pentagon representative in Congress McFaul criticizes the Biden administration for indecision and says that Taiwan needs to be provided with modern, effective weapons, that is, not the old ones that are provided to us. Now there are discussions going on there about providing Taiwan with various maritime drones and other things.
One example is that we are given missiles for air defense, but for the old Hawk complex, which cannot be used against ballistics. But the missiles that we really need, Patriot, are not provided or are provided in small quantities. This is the approach to strengthening the air defense of Ukraine. The United States has allies – Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine. There was a six-month pause for all three, but during this pause Israel was secretly given everything it needed. Now Taiwan will receive modern weapons, and we will receive consumables worth 225 million.
– You mentioned a new massive attack by Russia on Ukraine. Four Tu-95s were used as missile carriers. Three of them took off from the Olenya airfield in the Murmansk region, and another one took off from the Engels airfield in the Saratov region. Now a new branch of the military is being created in Ukraine – the Unmanned Systems Forces. According to the Ministry of Defense, in the future these systems will be able to reach the Urals. Do you think that today Ukraine already has the ability to strike at such enemy targets, at these airfields?
“We can’t reach Murmansk yet, but the Engels has already been hit and repeatedly damaged strategic aircraft.
Even before the full-scale invasion, I had a discussion with Skabeeva. She and other propagandists argued that Ukraine had no capabilities, what to talk about… But at that time we had just tested “Neptune” and “Alder”, and I confidently stated that we are working and will expand our capabilities. That over time we will get it to both Moscow and St. Petersburg. We must work to reach the Urals. It is clear that these words made them hysterical.
But today we are convinced that such prospects really exist. We are expanding our capabilities, scaling them, increasing the range of drones, which already exceeds a thousand kilometers.
As we see, the allies are still limiting the use of weapons. They gave us artillery, multiple launch rocket systems with a range of up to 80 kilometers and allowed us to carry out strikes on the territory of the Russian Federation in individual locations – near the Kharkov region, perhaps even Sumy region. Again we see a very slow response, because of which we are losing a lot, and the most valuable thing – people.
– The current situation at the front is quite difficult. The enemy is active in several directions, primarily in Pokrovsky, Limansky and Konstantinovsky. At the same time, according to the forecasts of the Hydrometeorological Center, rain will cover the whole of Ukraine in the near future. In your estimation, how might weather affect enemy activity?
– The weather affects both offense and defense. To a greater extent, of course, on the attacking side, and this, to a certain extent, can suspend these actions. But again, a lot depends on how the groups that will perform the tasks are prepared.
At one time, “General Frost” prevented the Nazi army from taking Moscow, but there is no point in relying on “General Rain” to protect us. We must rely on our resources and potential. We need to work with our allies on weapons and equipment, do our own and carry out internal mobilization tasks so that trained military personnel appear in the brigades fighting on the line of contact.
“The weather affects both offense and defense. To a greater extent, of course, on the attacking side, and this, to a certain extent, can suspend these actions.”
It seems those deep frier bikes will do great in knee-deep mud with the extra weight.
The interview makes it quite clear that General Igor Romanenko is truly irritated by the piss poor way the allies are acting in this war. So am I.