“We are listening to what they are saying, we are absolutely listening to what they are saying,” said a senior defense official, who spoke of the “urgency” of the Contact Group meeting on Ukraine in Brussels on Thursday. The official did not specify which countries would announce new security packages or what those missions would include, but noted that the United States is working “very closely” with allies to understand what Ukraine’s armed forces need and then find those systems. for shipment. The official also did not say whether the US would make a new announcement, but said the Biden government was already working on the next arms package. “It’s a constant drumbeat because it’s a constant battle” with “constantly evolving urgent demands,” the official told a group of journalists traveling with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The government announced the latest weapons package in early June, including the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HiMARS), a system capable of launching a barrage of rockets and missiles that Ukraine had been urgently requesting for weeks. The $ 700 million package was the first time the government had raised $ 40 billion in aid last month for Ukraine, which received bipartisan support in Congress. A small group of Ukrainian soldiers began training in HiMARS almost immediately after the announcement of the weapons package. But the system, which requires three weeks of training, has not yet entered the race. The senior defense official would only say that he would enter Ukraine “soon”. The United States has taken “some risk” of its own military readiness to send weapons and equipment to Ukraine, Secretary of Defense Christine Wormuth said earlier this month, but “it was not an unacceptable level of danger.” The senior defense official said the United States and its allies still have a significant amount of equipment to send to Ukraine. “We have not exhausted the resources and security assistance of many countries for this battle on Ukrainian territory,” the official said.
Zelensky asks for more
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky pledged in an afternoon speech Monday that Ukraine would liberate all Russian-occupied territory, including the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed shortly after its 2014 occupation. But that could happen. , he said, only if more weapons are sent to Ukraine. “We just need enough weapons for that to happen. The partners have it. In sufficient quantities. And we are working every day to show the political will to give us these weapons,” Zelensky said. Ukrainian officials say 100 to 200 soldiers are dying each day in the fighting, a number that raises some doubts about the ability of the Ukrainian armed forces to suffer such casualties. The American official said that they do not dispute the details of the victims. “The numbers do not exceed what you would expect for this kind of artillery battle,” the official said. “It is not surprising that the numbers reported by the Ukrainians are so serious.” However, the official said that the US has not seen the Ukrainian morale displayed to remain in the battle, even when the conflict turns into a fierce, violent artillery battle that could favor the firepower and manpower of the Russian army. The official expressed a more optimistic note about the state of war, although Russia seems to be gaining momentum in the Donbas region. Morale problems, mismanagement and supply issues have plagued the Russian military since the beginning of the invasion. Russia was able to cover some of these issues when the focus shifted to eastern Ukraine, as the battlefield bordered Russia, making it much easier to send short-distance supplies to units on the front line. Many of Russia’s high-tech equipment has already been damaged, the official said, forcing them to rely on older models. At the same time, Russia’s stockpile of precision munitions is shrinking, leading to the use of more artillery, which has had disastrous consequences due to a lack of accuracy. Sanctions and export restrictions have also increased the supply of their high-tech capabilities, the official said. Despite all the challenges the Russians have faced – both on their own and as a result of Ukraine’s counterattacks – Moscow still retains its greatest advantage: the enormous size of its army. But that does not mean Russia’s victory is guaranteed, even if Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown no intention of limiting his goals.
