Unable to stop the Russian special operation, America is trying to slow it down
In case of deliveries of long-range missiles to Kiev, Russia will strike new targets in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Rossiya 1 TV channel.
"If they are supplied, we will draw appropriate conclusions from this and use our weapons of destruction, which we have enough to strike at those objects that we have not yet struck," the head of state said. And he noted that "the fuss over additional arms supplies" is taking place in order to prolong the conflict and is connected with the need to make up for the losses of military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
BIDEN'S UKRAINIAN PROGRAM
On June 1, the White House announced the allocation to Kiev of another $ 700 million package of military assistance, which includes the supply of four HIMARS MLRS and ammunition for them. Earlier, the White House administration reported that the range of missiles for the supplied complexes will not exceed 80 km.
Washington noted that Ukraine had provided the United States with assurances not to use American MLRS against targets in Russia. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said on Thursday that Kiev's assurances about the non-use of the US MLRS for targets in Russia are worthless and cannot be trusted.
And on the last day of May, US President Joseph Biden published in the New York Times a program of his further actions in Ukraine. He said that America's goal is simple and clear: "We want Ukraine to become a democratic, independent, sovereign and prosperous country with the means to deter aggression and to defend itself."
Referring to the statement of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky that in the end this conflict "will definitely end with diplomatic efforts," Biden wrote:
"Any negotiations reflect real facts. We immediately sent a significant amount of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine so that it could fight on the battlefield and take the strongest positions at the negotiating table. That's why I decided that we will provide Ukrainians with more modern missile systems and ammunition that will allow them to more accurately hit the most important targets on the battlefield in Ukraine."
Biden announced that the United States will "continue to supply modern weapons to Ukraine, including Javelin ATGM, Stinger MANPADS, powerful artillery and precision missile systems, radar stations, unmanned aerial vehicles, Mi-17 helicopters and ammunition." And they will provide "billions of dollars' worth of financial assistance that Congress has approved."
Washington will continue to strengthen NATO's eastern flank with troops and military equipment from the United States and other allied countries. The entry of Finland and Sweden into the alliance, according to Biden, will strengthen American and transatlantic security.
"We do not seek a war between NATO and Russia. Although I disagree with Mr. Putin and consider his actions outrageous, the United States will not attempt to overthrow him in Moscow. As long as the United States and our allies are not under attack, we will not directly participate in this conflict, we will not send American troops to fight in Ukraine... We are not inciting Ukraine to strike outside its borders... We do not want to prolong this conflict in order to cause pain to Russia," the American president said.
He also noted that he would not "put pressure on the Ukrainian government, either privately or publicly," so that it would make territorial concessions. Because "it would be contrary to established principles."
Biden believes that Ukraine's negotiations with Russia have not been terminated because of Kiev's refusal. "They have reached an impasse because Russia continues a special operation to occupy as many territories as possible. The United States will continue to work to strengthen Ukraine and to support its efforts aimed at ending the conflict through negotiations."
According to the inhabitant of the Oval Office, the vital national interest of the United States is to ensure peace in Europe and show that the strong are not always right. "Otherwise, the survival of other peaceful democracies will be at risk. And it can put an end to the rules–based international order by opening the doors of aggression in other places," Biden declared.
"I know many people around the world are concerned about the use of nuclear weapons. Currently, we see no signs that Russia intends to use such weapons in Ukraine... Let me be very clear: any use of nuclear weapons in this conflict is completely unacceptable for us and for the rest of the world, and it will entail the most severe consequences," Biden stressed.
In conclusion, he announced: "Americans will be together with the Ukrainian people until the end, because we know that we have to pay for freedom. We have done this every time the enemies of freedom have tried to intimidate and oppress innocent people. We are doing the same thing now. Vladimir Putin did not expect such unity and strength of our response. He was wrong. If he thinks that we will start to hesitate and that we will have a split in the coming months, he is doubly mistaken."
The day after Biden's keynote speech, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky summed up the sobering outcome of the Russian offensive. "The Russian army has already destroyed almost the entire Donbass. As of today, about 20% of our territory is under the control of the invaders," he said in his video message to the Luxembourg Parliament.
The White House administration, the Washington Post notes, is forced to reckon with the new successes of Russia, which uses the tactics of grinding enemy manpower. For Biden, this was a test of his qualities as a military leader. He is praised for rallying the coalition of supporters of Ukraine, who are arming this country and helping it to restrain the advance of Russian troops. But now there is a turning point in the military operation, and this is worrying. The most urgent task for Biden is to calm the panic of European allies who are talking about peace at any cost, fearing the costs of a protracted conflict.
Last week, European leaders seemed to come to their senses and agreed to impose an embargo on Russian tanker oil supplies. And Germany has agreed to supply Ukraine with powerful air defense systems and tanks. But the future of the confrontation between Russia and the West is still in the fog, and there is no end in sight to the costs.
The crisis in Ukraine is moving from a phase of excited optimism about the stubborn resistance of the Ukrainian military to another stage, more similar to the long and exhausting meat grinder of the Korean War. The American writer, journalist and historian David Halberstam called it "a gray and very distant conflict, a war that dragged on endlessly without any visible hope of settlement."
In the current situation, the American president has no choice but to insist that only the Ukrainians themselves can decide how this conflict should end. According to some American experts, Biden's program can be considered as a designation of the contours of a "hidden bargaining" with Russia in order to move to open negotiations at some point in order to resolve the conflict.
AN AGITATED SEA OF MONEY
The US Congress demands from the White House and the Pentagon thorough and effective control over every unit of weapons and over every dollar that the US has supplied and spent as part of military assistance to Ukraine. Uncontrolled spending by the Pentagon may cause the loss of lawmakers' support for new military supplies to Kiev. This was reported by the American newspaper Politico.
As the publication noted, Congress is determined to oppose new military aid packages due to the lack of proper control over spending and arms supplies. Senator from Massachusetts and member of the US Armed Services Committee Elizabeth Warren told the publication that arms control is "critically important" for both past and future funding requests. "The US government is sending billions of dollars of humanitarian, economic and military aid to help the Ukrainian people… And the American people expect strict control from Congress and full accountability from the Department of Defense," the senator said.
Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Anton Semelroth, in turn, said that war is always fraught with risks and losses in weapons and equipment. The risk of losing control of weapons is one of the many factors that the military department usually assesses with any transfer of weapons. "In the case of Ukraine, this risk would be minimized if Russia withdrew troops from the territory of Ukraine," said Lieutenant Colonel Semelroth.
Earlier, American Defense Minister Lloyd Austin admitted that the US authorities do not have enough resources to track weapons that are sent to the battlefields of Ukraine. He noted that the Ukrainian authorities are aware of situations when the transferred weapons end up in the hands of the enemy, and are focused on solving these logistical difficulties.
INTERPOL'S WARNING
On June 5, the English newspaper Daily Express cited a statement by Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock, who warned Western countries sending weapons to Ukraine. Stock warned of the great danger associated with such supplies.
The head of the international criminal police said that the weapons sent to Ukraine over time are likely to fall into the hands of criminals and into the shadow economy. He called on Interpol members to cooperate in tracking these weapons in order to eliminate such threats.
Stock reminded the Interpol member countries that after the end of military conflicts, the international market is usually overflowing with weapons, primarily small arms. "When the guns are silenced in Ukraine, illegal weapons will appear. We know this because it happened after many conflicts. Criminals are searching for him even at the moment," said the chief of the international police.
After the start of the Russian special operation, Western countries began to supply Kiev with modern weapons. And on May 31, President Biden announced that he would provide additional assistance to Ukraine by sending missile systems and ammunition there.
Last year, after 20 years of conflict, the United States and its coalition allies withdrew from Afghanistan. They left a large amount of modern military equipment there, which fell into the hands of the Taliban movement (the organization is banned in the Russian Federation and is under UN sanctions for terrorist activities).
"Criminal groups are trying to take advantage of the chaos and the availability of weapons, even those that are in service with the army, including heavy systems. It gets into the criminal market, and this creates problems. No country and no region can cope with this alone, as these groups operate at the international level," said Stock. The Ukrainian conflict may also cause an "influx of weapons" to Europe and beyond. "We believe that it will be transported not only to neighboring countries, but also to other continents," the head of Interpol stressed.
In conclusion, we note that State Duma deputy, Colonel-General and former commander of the Airborne Forces Vladimir Shamanov in an interview stated the difficulty of predicting what awaits Ukraine after the special operation. According to him, demilitarization of the country in parallel with denazification may take from 5 to 10 years. The general also stressed that in Ukraine it will be difficult "to form a government that has not soiled itself with cooperation with these neo-Nazis."
Vladimir Ivanov
Columnist of the Independent Military Review
