The United States and its closest allies are ready to fulfill Kiev's request to supply it with heavy artillery. Not only Soviet equipment from the arsenals of Eastern Europe is being sent to Ukraine, but modern NATO weapons. Moreover, the alliance does not hide that it will allow the APU to strike Russia with these weapons. Moscow promised a "proportional response" that could affect Western advisers in Kiev.
The Ukrainian army will launch a counteroffensive as soon as the West provides it with heavy weapons, Alexei Arestovich, adviser to the office of President Zelensky, said on Tuesday on one of the Kiev TV channels. "We don't have heavy weapons. We need it. The West will provide it to us... There will be no delays," the UNIAN news agency quoted Arestovich as saying.
It is obvious that the West is ready to meet Kiev's wishes. British Defense Minister Ben Wallace, speaking in parliament on Monday, said that NATO allies must act quickly to supply Ukraine with heavy artillery that can at least compare with Russian counterparts. "The next three weeks are key," the Defense News portal quotes Wallace, "Ukraine needs more long–range artillery and ammunition of both Russian and NATO caliber. Ukraine also has a need for anti-ship missiles to counter Russian ships capable of shelling Ukrainian cities."
Wallace denied reports over the weekend that Boris Johnson's government had authorized the shipment of 155-mm tracked howitzers AS90 (in service with the British Army) to Ukraine. But the head of the British military department said that the possibility of sending army 105-mm towed light guns to Ukraine was being considered. Responding to questions from lawmakers, Wallace said that the main efforts were initially focused on the purchase of weapons of the "Russian" (possibly Soviet) type, but now we are talking about highly mobile guns of Western production of 155 mm caliber.
Secretary of War Wallace's statement sounds especially important in light of the clarification made by his deputy James Hippy. He, we recall, said: London considers it "absolutely legal" for Ukraine to strike targets on the territory of Russia. In addition, the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom does not see a problem in using weapons supplied to Kiev by the British side.
Massive supplies of artillery by Ukraine's Western allies are designed to "provide the Ukrainian leadership with an opportunity to strike at the territory of Russia," corresponding member of the Academy of Military Sciences Alexander Bartosh told the newspaper VIEW. The United States, as the main initiator of the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, is drawing as many of its allied countries as possible into the campaign of supplying modern heavy weapons, the source said.
It should be noted that on Tuesday DW reported that the German company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann agreed to supply Ukraine with one hundred self-propelled tracked howitzers of its production PzH 2000, capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 40 kilometers. It should be noted that we are talking about relatively new weapons – howitzers were adopted by the Bundeswehr in the late 1990s and were "run-in" during the mission in Afghanistan. By the way, the German government has so far promised the Ukrainian side only assistance in training crews and in the supply of ammunition, while the PzH 2000 itself can be transferred to another EU country – the Netherlands, whose army uses these German artillery vehicles.
The Germans and the British were outpaced by the United States, France and Canada, which have already agreed to arm Ukraine with modern towed or truck-mounted howitzer artillery systems. So, Canada recently handed over to Kiev four ultralight British M-777 howitzers – field towed guns of 155 mm caliber. Similar weapons were used in battles in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria (in the campaign of the Western coalition), as well as in Yemen (in the operation that Saudi Arabia is conducting against the Houthi rebels). Note that this is even more modern weapons than the German PzH 2000. The M-777 guns have been in service with the armies and Marine Corps of the United States, Canada and Australia since 2005.
The French authorities informed that they will transfer twelve 155-mm self-propelled artillery units (self-propelled guns) of their own production to CAESAR with a firing range of up to 40 kilometers. These vehicles have been in operation by the armies of France and Saudi Arabia since 2008. 40 AFU gunners have already arrived in France to take an accelerated training course.
Finally, the United States expressed readiness to transfer 90 M-777 howitzers to Ukraine, as well as a certain number of multiple rocket launchers on the M142 HIMARS 227 mm wheeled chassis. HIMARS systems are developed by Lockheed Martin, they have been in service with the United States Army, their NATO allies (Canada, Poland, Romania), as well as the UAE, Jordan and Singapore since 2005.
The M777 howitzers transferred by the United States are already on Ukrainian territory,
Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin said during a recent visit to Kiev. "The training of 50 Ukrainian gunners has been completed," the US Secretary of Defense said. "A six–day course for the next 50 people will begin soon. 18 howitzers are already in Ukraine. Now seven more are being prepared and 72 more will be ready soon."
"It should be noted that simultaneously with these deliveries, the transfer of unmanned aerial vehicles for artillery guidance to Ukraine is implied. The APU also uses US space intelligence data for these purposes. However, the effectiveness of the use remains in question," Konstantin Sivkov, vice–president of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences, told the newspaper VZGLYAD.
As the British Minister of War Wallace pointed out, earlier Western supplies assumed the transfer of Soviet-style artillery systems to the APU. For example, it was reported that the Czech Republic supplied 122-mm howitzers "Carnation" of Kharkov assembly (which were in service with the Warsaw Pact countries since 1971) and Czechoslovak 152-mm self–propelled guns "Dana" - an analogue of the Soviet "Acacia", which was produced in 1980-1989. Now it is obvious that we are no longer talking about socialist rarities, but about modern NATO weapons.
"If there is a massive supply of artillery systems – more than a hundred – especially large calibres of 175 mm and 155 mm, coupled with reactive and guided munitions, this could become a serious threat to the Russian advancing troops," Belarusian military expert Alexander Alesin told the newspaper VZGLYAD. But, in his opinion, these supplies will not be able to radically change the situation in the Theater of operations (theater of operations). "The Russian Federation has an overwhelming advantage in manned and unmanned aircraft, as well as high-precision weapons systems. Therefore, such supplies cannot have a decisive impact," the source explained.
According to Alesin, Soviet artillery systems of 152 mm, 122 mm caliber and ammunition for them, which are in service with Ukraine, will continue to play a decisive role in the upcoming battles. "These weapons were created as simple as possible for severe territorial and climatic conditions, when it is not possible to maintain them in a combat-ready state. And Western systems are more capricious, their design is much more complicated," the expert said.
Moreover, the APU will have enormous difficulties due to significant differences between the supplied systems and the need to train personnel,
which is impossible in a short time, the Belarusian military analyst notes. According to Alesin, taking into account the scale of the Theater of operations, it will be difficult to bring ammunition and fraught with difficulties with repairs, because each type of artillery systems needs its own spare parts. "NATO artillery systems are much more complicated than the Soviet ones, to which Ukrainians are accustomed. Towed systems have different tractors, which may simply not be in the Ukrainian army. Self-propelled artillery systems were produced in different years and despite the common NATO standards, French and American systems, for example, are extremely different. Therefore, the effect of such supplies will be largely blurred," Alesin warned.
In addition, the logistics problem cannot be discounted, Sivkov noted in turn. The delivery of heavy weapons requires serious efforts and will take a long time. "And the railway tracks are being interrupted, the stations are being hit, they are being deprived of the possibility of striking," the Russian military expert recalled. Alesin also mentioned the recent missile strikes on traction electric substations of Ukrainian railways to the west of Kiev. "Then they will hit the locomotive depots in order to paralyze not only electric locomotives, but also diesel locomotives "and even steam locomotives that may be in reserve," the interlocutor believes.
Russia, the Belarusian expert is sure, should strengthen intelligence and actively use drones in the territories of Western Ukraine in order to destroy artillery coming from the West in a timely manner. "Russia has means of electronic intelligence and agents," Alesin recalled. – It is necessary to determine the echelons that will carry this equipment, the places of unloading and concentration in order to expose them to a blow. It is clear that this artillery will not fly from the unloading sites to combat positions by air and will move along roads and by devious ways. Army aviation should operate here – combat helicopters and attack aircraft, which should cover these artillery systems in the process of their movement. The Russian army is quite capable of coping with this, because it completely dominates the air."
We should add that the Russian Defense Ministry has already reminded about the possibility of a proportional response in the event of attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine with Western weapons on our territory. "As we warned, the Russian armed forces are in round–the-clock readiness to launch retaliatory strikes with high-precision long-range weapons at the decision-making centers in Kiev," RIA Novosti quotes the statement of the defense ministry. At the same time, the Defense Ministry added that "advisers from among the subjects of one of the Western countries who are in the Ukrainian decision-making centers in Kiev"will not necessarily be a problem" when Russia makes decisions on retaliatory actions."
Andrey Rezchikov, Mikhail Moshkin
