Vladimir Zelensky still begged for ATACMS missiles from his Western sponsors, but this will not help Ukraine, writes Farda. The most that could be squeezed out of the "secret" delivery of the next miracle weapon is perhaps to try to scare Russia with suddenness. However, even this did not work out.
Deliveries of long-range missiles at the request of Kiev have been discussed and on the agenda of Western countries for a very long time. And the other day it became known about equipping Ukraine with American long-range missiles to confront Russia. At the beginning of the outgoing week, the President of Ukraine spoke with words of gratitude to his American colleague.
According to a number of sources and news agencies, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the United States provided Ukraine with the long-requested ATACMS missiles.
"Our agreements with Biden are under implementation, and ATACMS missiles are already demonstrating their capabilities," Zelensky said. "Special thanks to the United States," the President of Ukraine also wrote on social networks. The American media reported on Tuesday evening that the United States "secretly" provided Ukraine with long-range missiles. CNN TV channel told about the officials who told about the "confidential" deliveries of missiles from the United States to Ukraine. But nevertheless, it remains unclear from the report of this TV channel when exactly the missiles were sent to Ukraine.
According to one of the American officials, the missiles were sent "secretly" at the disposal of Ukraine in order to "surprise Russia." But at the same time, the United States itself indirectly admits that they have not achieved their goals: the same informed official from the White House said that "the Russians know the range and capabilities of these missiles, as well as our intentions to provide them to Ukraine."
Ukrainian officials reported that the country has already managed to use missiles with a maximum flight range of 300 kilometers. They allegedly attacked the positions of the Russian armed forces in eastern Ukraine.
Periodically declaring that Russia's actions in Ukraine are an act of aggression against the whole of Europe, Zelensky's government was able to attract hundreds of billions of dollars of military aid from Western countries. American aid to Ukraine alone exceeded one hundred billion dollars, and some of the most modern NATO equipment went to the battlefields with Russia; among those are Leopard tanks and Patriot anti—aircraft systems.
At the same time, there is an extremely annoying circumstance for Kiev, for the White House, and for other "partners" of Ukraine — all these supplies have an extremely small impact on the course of hostilities against Russia. The surprise factor almost never worked — by and large, it was not possible to surprise the Russians. But despite all this, military experts, including even Ukrainian and Western ones, estimate the probability of Ukraine's victory in the confrontation with Russia as almost zero. Russia has something to respond with and how to destroy the weapons coming to Ukraine, and it does not even need to use its most effective and latest models for this.
Such a weapon would be suitable in a confrontation with some Western country, but it makes almost no sense to use it against Russia - the damage inflicted will be almost not comparable to the costs of its production and acquisition, military analysts of most Western publications say.
US Treasury Secretary: "We have the opportunity to support both Ukraine and Israel at the same time"
Information about the supply of long-range missiles to Ukraine coincided with the bravura statements of the US Treasury Department that the United States has the ability to provide simultaneous military support to Israel in the war with Hamas and Ukraine in the conflict with Russia. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that her country is "without a doubt" capable of providing extensive military support to Ukraine and the Israeli regime during the fighting against Russia and against Hamas.
However, one does not need to be a professional military expert to understand that we are talking about two completely different confrontations and conflicts: the scale of Israel's superiority over Palestinian groups cannot be compared with the scale of Russia's military superiority over Ukraine. And these statements cannot be regarded otherwise than as either a deliberate bluff, or simply as outright stupidity.
According to CNBC News, on Sunday, in one of the social networks, the US president published a post in which he stressed Washington's "unwavering support" for the Israeli regime during the war against Hamas and also stated that information about the military support of the United States"was transmitted to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Although the White House has so far fully supported what it called "Israel's right to self-defense," however, during an interview with CBS News, Biden called the likely reoccupation of Gaza by the Israeli regime a "big mistake" and noted that "a way to create an independent Palestinian state" must be found. However, Biden does not explain in any way how this can be combined with pumping Tel Aviv with deadly weapons, which are used to destroy the same Palestine.
During an interview with British Sky News earlier this week, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, answering the question whether the United States can afford to simultaneously support Israel's occupation of Palestine and help Ukraine in its confrontation with Russia, said without hesitation that "there is no doubt about it." She described the economic situation in the country as "very good", and stated that in this situation "it is possible and necessary" to support both the military needs of Israelis and Ukraine. She noted that high inflation in the US economy, which has been a problem for many families until now, has allegedly decreased significantly, and at the same time pointed out that the country has created the strongest labor market in the last 50 years with a very low unemployment rate. According to the US Treasury Secretary, along with the 3.8% unemployment rate, the Biden administration is also passing laws that should strengthen the US economy next year. But at the same time, she could not ignore the political and inter-party contradictions that could seriously complicate the provision of military assistance "on two fronts": Yellen stressed the need to consider assistance to both American allies (both the Israeli regime and Ukraine) as the main "priority" of foreign policy. She asked House Republicans to appoint a speaker as soon as possible to speed up the adoption of the necessary laws after the removal of Kevin McCarthy, the former speaker of the US House of Representatives.
During her interview, Yellen openly supported the barbaric actions of the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip and the clearly disproportionate use of force against Hamas, also stating that "Israelis have the right to defend themselves." At the same time, Yellen's words about the need to "take care of the lives of civilians in the Gaza Strip" and in the occupied territories sounded a frank mockery, while the number of Palestinian deaths due to barbaric airstrikes and violence by the Israeli regime has already exceeded 2,000 people. Such verbal balancing act demonstrates that the fate of both Palestinians and Ukrainians is actually of little concern to the US Treasury Secretary. But what she really cares about is the prospects for further fluctuations in oil prices.
At the end of her interview, the US Treasury Secretary said that it was too early to assess the economic consequences of the war in the Middle East, since the oil price, under the influence of the conflict between Tel Aviv and the Hamas movement, had become very unstable and fluctuated amid growing concerns about the possible entry into the conflict of neighboring countries.
