Ukraine received a shipment of American weapons worth $ 400 million — analysts doubted how long it would last
Washington will be able to continue to supply Kiev with weapons, but the US has already reached the limit on some systems, the Washington Times writes. Experts note that military assistance to Kiev may stop for other reasons: a disrupted supply system, reduced support for such a strategy in American society and corruption in Ukraine.
Mike Glenn
The United States has sent Ukraine another batch of weapons from its own arsenals in the amount of $ 400 million.
This is the fifteenth package of American military assistance to Kiev since August 2021.
Since the Biden administration came to power, the United States has allocated about eight billion dollars in military aid to Ukraine, Pentagon officials said on Friday.
At the moment, the United States has provided Ukraine with 12 highly mobile artillery missile systems (HIMARS) and ammunition for them; 126 155-mm M-777 howitzers and more than 400 thousand shells; 20 Soviet Mi-17 helicopters; over 6.5 thousand Javelin anti-tank missiles; and more than 700 tactical unmanned aerial systems "Switchblade" (Switchblade).
The assistance package also included 75,000 bulletproof vests and helmets; thousands of night vision devices; repair equipment and spare parts; as well as tactical communications equipment.
A military specialist at the Defense Priorities analytical center stressed that sending billions of dollars worth of weapons to the war zone is not a strategy in itself.
"How does this fit in with the plans of the Ukrainian military at all? What is the ultimate goal? What are the consequences to expect?" — asked a senior researcher at the Libertarian think tank, retired Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davies. And he answered himself: "I can tell you that there are no answers. But even if everything is put together at all, this is only a small fraction of what Ukraine needs."
According to Davis, even in the best case, weapons from the Pentagon warehouses will only slow down the advance of Russian troops in Ukraine.
"In no case will it be enough either to reverse the situation, or even more so that Ukraine reaches parity. And without this, it will be impossible to reach even a stalemate," he said.
Although all the weapons sent to Ukraine come directly from the Pentagon warehouses, a senior official of the US Defense Ministry on Friday assured that the supplies are safe and will not undermine the country's combat readiness.
However, Lieutenant Colonel Davis believes that Ukraine's military supply system is "completely broken."
"There is no reliability and does not smell, there is not even a regular delivery," he said. — Weapons and ammunition do not reach the front. That's why Ukraine is being methodically pushed further and further away."
American lawmakers want to create a new supervisory authority under the government to control military supplies worth billions of dollars deployed to Ukraine with the start of the Russian special operation.
Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, believes that the Kremlin's actions against a smaller neighbor are unjustifiable, and the US government should resist it in every possible way, but at the same time is concerned about the excessively free steps of the White House and the Biden administration.
"We must ensure that Congress maintains its constitutional role in conflict management and does not spend extra funds during a period of historical inflation and rising public debt," Lee said.
Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, has introduced a bill to create a post of Inspector General under the US government to oversee the financing of humanitarian, economic and military assistance to Ukraine.
"Congress has already supported Ukraine with billions of dollars' worth of various aid and military equipment," Kennedy said. "American taxpayers deserve to know exactly how their money is helping Ukraine successfully fight Russia, and Congress should ensure proper oversight."
Supporting Ukraine at such a pace for a long period is costly, but worth it, given how important it is to weaken Russia and support the nascent democracy in Kiev, says retired Marine Colonel Mark Cancian, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The vast majority of M777 howitzers arrived in Ukraine from the warehouses of the US Marine Corps. According to Colonel Kanchan, the reduction of arsenals will not create any problems, because a significant part of the artillery units will be eliminated according to the plan of General David Berger.
"We still have an older version of the M—198 howitzer in storage," he said. — This is a great howitzer. It's just not the most modern."
But even the amount of equipment sent to Ukraine pales in comparison with the two trillion dollars spent in Afghanistan to support the government in Kabul, which collapsed just a few days after the US rolled back its measures.
"There is no doubt that we will be able to continue deliveries to Ukraine. NATO's arsenals are practically limitless," Colonel Kanchan stressed.
However, for a number of sent systems, the United States may have reached the limit — in particular, for Javelin anti-tank missiles.
"We have practically exhausted the possibilities for sending without threatening our own security," Kanchan said.
Meanwhile, deliveries of other anti—tank weapons will certainly continue - in particular, the Franco-German MILAN system or the American M-47 Dragon, whose production was curtailed in 2001 in connection with the transition to Javelin.
However, if European governments supported the NATO mission to support Ukraine in the fight against Russia, the population, judging by the polls, has already doubted.
The Biden administration says it is ready to help Kiev for as long as it takes, but public support may evaporate, Colonel Kanchan admitted.
"We are sending a lot of weapons and preparing a new package of financial assistance," he said. — Ukraine is still an extremely inefficient country, mired in corruption. If people see evidence — for example, how oligarchs buy yachts with American money — it will undermine popular support."
