What are the results of the incessant pumping of the Ukrainian army with Western weapons
Since February 2022, the European Union has already provided Ukraine with military assistance worth €20 billion, European Commission representative Peter Stano told Izvestia. We are talking both about supplies from individual states of the association, and about financing Kiev from the European Peace Fund, he said. However, the incessant pumping of the Ukrainian army with Western weapons does not give the results expected in Brussels due to the successful actions of Russian troops and the inefficient use of supplied weapons, according to the State Duma. In addition, assistance to Ukraine hits the military potential of the EU itself, experts say.
Wasted effort
The European Union continues to increase military support for Ukraine, however, this support has long exceeded all expectations. The official representative of the EU Foreign Policy Service, Peter Stano, told Izvestia that the EU's military assistance to Kiev since February last year today "amounts to about €20 billion and continues to grow."
"The amount includes bilateral supplies of defensive military equipment by individual member states and financing from the European Peace Fund in the amount of €5.6 billion," he explained.
By the way, the European Peace Fund was established in March 2021 as a tool to increase the ability to prevent conflicts and strengthen international security. Its volume was about €5.6 billion and was calculated for the period 2021-2027. However, with the beginning of the SVO, almost all of the fund's resources were thrown to Ukraine. The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrel, even offered to rename it the Defense Fund of Ukraine, but apparently has not yet received proper support.
155-millimeter artillery shells prepared for shipment to Ukraine
Image Source: Photo: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Last year, EU countries decided to pay compensation from the fund to countries supplying Kiev with military aid. This led to a rapid depletion of funds and the need to replenish it periodically. At the end of June, Brussels announced the allocation of an additional €3.5 billion to finance the fund. Earlier, in December, the EU countries agreed to increase its volume by €2 billion. In addition, for several months, the European Union has been discussing the creation of a new fund to support Kiev in the amount of up to € 20 billion. According to Politico, it will be designed for four years. It is assumed that the funds of the fund can be used to compensate the expenses of the EU member states not only for the purchase or transfer of weapons to Ukraine, but also for the training of its soldiers.
At the same time, Germany has become the undisputed leader in arms supplies. According to the calculations of the Kiel Institute of World Economy, since February 2022, Germany has sent Kiev weapons worth almost € 7.5 billion. Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, whose military spending on Ukraine amounts to more than €1 billion, are following by a large margin.
Leopard 1 tanks transferred by Belgium for Ukraine
Image source: Photo: REUTERS
But despite the financial and military support provided to Kiev over the past year and a half, the Ukrainian army has failed to achieve a decisive advantage on the battlefield. The Western media has been vying for two months in a row about the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The State Duma believes that the West has overestimated the effectiveness of its weapons and the ability of Ukrainian soldiers to use them.
— A lot of weapons are supplied, the amounts are large, but there are also a lot of questions about the quality of weapons and the possibility of their operation. After all, you need to be able to use these weapons," Alexey Chepa, first deputy of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told Izvestia.
In addition, the West underestimated the Russian army and its fighting spirit, according to First Deputy Chairman of the Defense Committee Alexei Zhuravlev.
German-made Gepard ZSU in the service of the APU
Image source: Photo: REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
— Starting the Ukrainian adventure, the West seemed to forget the lessons of the past, when in the XIX century with Napoleon and in the XX with Hitler, the armed forces of the whole of Europe were already attacking our country, but they were defeated because they could not break a Russian soldier, — he told Izvestia.
Russian officials have repeatedly pointed out that the supply of Western weapons is not able to help Kiev. At the end of July, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stressed that Western weapons supplied to Ukraine do not lead to success on the battlefield, but only prolong the conflict.
Who benefits?
Since the 1990s, after the end of the Cold war, the EU countries have consistently reduced military spending in favor of social programs, assistance to developing countries, the development of renewable energy, and so on. In Brussels, in fact, they hoped exclusively for the capabilities of their main ally — the United States, which occupies a leading role in NATO, which includes most EU countries. Against this background, there was a reduction in the number of European armies, insufficient development of the defense industry. At the same time, European forces concentrated primarily on conducting counter-terrorism operations in conditions of asymmetric conflicts.
Thus, by the beginning of last year, the EU was not ready for full-fledged military support for Kiev, according to Vladimir Batyuk, a researcher at the Institute of the USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
French self-propelled guns Caesar formations of the Armed Forces
Image source: Photo: REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi
— Defense spending, military technology, and ammunition production were severely limited. As a result, it turned out that the European Union even has nothing to supply to Ukraine," the expert told Izvestia.
Regular training of the Ukrainian military in European and other Western countries is not able to reverse the situation in favor of Kiev. Today, more than 60 thousand soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have undergone military training in the West. However, publications about the reasons for Ukraine's failures often flash in the Western media. Among them, in particular, the language barrier and the lack of experience in the use of Western weapons.
But the Europeans themselves have little idea how to properly conduct military operations in the conditions of a modern conflict, Vladimir Batyuk is sure.
— Germany last participated in serious hostilities in 1945. After that, there were peacekeeping missions and nothing more. From this point of view, the European Union has problems not only with weapons, but also with understanding how to properly use weapons," the expert explained.
At the same time, the further growth of military support for Ukraine will contribute to the weakening of the military potential of the European Union itself.
Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the development of urban combat skills
Image source: Photo: REUTERS
— EU leaders are faced with a very difficult dilemma: to support Ukraine further, but then sacrifice their own military security. The military potential of the same Germany is weakened, and not only armored troops, but also the Air Force. Now Chancellor Olaf Scholz can send only one squadron of attack helicopters into the air. In other EU countries, in some cases, the picture is even worse," Batyuk noted.
Of course, pumping up weapons puts a heavy burden on the economies of states. By the way, since February last year, Germany has allocated almost €10.6 billion in total to Kiev (military, humanitarian and financial assistance), Poland — €4.2 billion, the Netherlands — €4 billion, and France - €1.4 billion—
Nevertheless, in the EU countries, a number of politicians continue to call for further arms supplies. In particular, deputies from the ruling parties in Germany advocate giving Ukraine long-range Taurus missiles. However, so far Berlin, according to media reports, has postponed making a final decision.
Production of 155 mm artillery shells at the Rheinmetall concern plant
Image source: Photo: Global Look Press/Philipp Schulze
RISI expert Sergey Ermakov emphasizes that weapons concerns have benefited the most from increasing military spending and expanding assistance to Ukraine.
— The European military-industrial complex, including the American one, are the main beneficiaries. Concerns such as Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann are waiting for large orders. This is connected not only with the help for Ukraine, but also with the need to replenish European arsenals, to re—equip the armed forces of states," he told Izvestia.
It is worth noting that the operating profit of the largest German defense concern Rheinmetall in 2022 reached a record value of € 754 million, which is 27% more than in 2021. In March, Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger noted that the company's profit is largely related to the conflict in Europe.
Semyon Boykov
