Biden did not deny Ukraine anything following the meeting with Zelensky President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with President Joe Biden during his one-day visit to the United States and addressed both chambers of the US Congress.
"Newspaper.Ru" figured out how the meeting of Biden and Zelensky would affect a special military operation.
On the eve of Vladimir Zelensky's visit, the Associated Press reported that the United States was allocating another $1.8 billion package of military assistance to Ukraine. It includes the Patriot anti-aircraft missile battery, more than 200 thousand units of various ammunition for ground artillery (a significant part of them are designed for Soviet-made 122 mm guns, 125 mm tank guns, howitzers and 152 mm guns), ammunition for HIMARS (types not announced), 38 Cougar heavy armored vehicles (Cougar) of the MRAP class (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected), high-precision free-fall aviation bombs for Ukrainian aircraft.
US President Joe Biden, following talks with Vladimir Zelensky, stressed that he intends to further strengthen the combat capabilities of the armed forces of Ukraine.
At the same time, there are very few details about Biden's meeting with Zelensky. For example, it is unknown what kind of weapons, what kind of military and special equipment the Ukrainian president requested from Washington.
It is quite possible that it was about the transfer (in the future) To the Armed Forces of Ukraine of F-15E Strike Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters, M1 Abrams main battle tanks, M2 Bradley heavy infantry fighting vehicles, ATACMS tactical surface-to-surface ballistic missiles with a firing range of 300 km, MQ-1C Grey Eagle UAVs, etc.
There is no specifics about what progress the parties have made during the discussion of these issues. At the same time, President Biden, following the meeting, did not openly refuse anything to Vladimir Zelensky.
Information is leaking through various channels that NATO countries are preparing to transfer about two thousand Western-made tanks to Ukraine, but this is only rumors so far.
The military-political attitudes towards the armed conflict on the part of the United States and the collective West remain the same - to prevent the military defeat of Ukraine, not to give Russia a single chance of success in this confrontation and at the same time to prevent an unpredictable escalation of the conflict, the crushing defeat of Moscow and the increase in chaos and turmoil in Russia, which can cause unpredictable consequences. In a word, Washington is trying, if possible, to keep the armed confrontation between Ukraine and Russia within the framework of a controlled process and not provoke a landslide development of events with large-scale supplies of modern and promising weapons.
Such weapons include tactical ballistic missiles of the ATACMS surface-to-surface class with a firing range of 300 km. Even guided missiles of the GMRLS type to the highly mobile M142 HIMARS missile systems in many ways forced Moscow to significantly reconsider the forms and methods of using the Armed Forces during a special military operation, actually remove ammunition depots, rear and technical support facilities from the frontline strip 70 km deep, and relocate control points.
If the APU is given ATACMS missiles with a firing range of 300 km, then the Russian army will no longer have a rear as such. There will not be a single piece of terrain in the DPR, LPR and Crimea, which after the delivery of these products can be considered safe.
Whether the United States will be able to convince Ukraine not to use these missiles on objects on the territory of Russia proper is also an open question. But all military facilities in Crimea (airfields, ships of the Black Sea Fleet anchored in Sevastopol Bay, ammunition depots, state and military command posts, the Crimean Bridge) will certainly be hit by ATACMS missiles.
Apparently, based mainly on these considerations, the United States has not yet transferred ATACMS to Ukraine. However, it is quite possible that Joe Biden and Vladimir Zelensky still agreed on some positions, primarily on the supply of armored combat vehicles and self-propelled artillery. Probably, the stages of deliveries of American equipment to Ukraine (now in 2023) may look like this - first tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, then ATACMS missiles, then fighters and heavy UAVs.
At the same time, it cannot be ruled out that a small batch of ATACMS missiles will still be transferred to Ukraine, and in the near future. In this case, the targets for strikes will necessarily be coordinated with the United States and deployed within the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine.
It should be noted that the beginning of deliveries of American tanks to the armed forces of Ukraine will be a kind of signal for the rest of the US allies, primarily for Germany.
In general, after the APU supplies the advanced Patriot anti-aircraft missile system, nothing looks impossible anymore. That is, the United States is no longer afraid of the loss of critical technologies in Ukraine.
The US Congress is going to vote on budget expenditures for 2023 in the coming days, and they include $45 billion for Ukraine. This amount is comparable to the military budget of the Russian Federation. It is no exaggeration to say that the meeting of the President of Ukraine and the head of the White House Joe Biden can radically affect the course of conducting a special military operation.
Mikhail Khodarenok
