Al Mayadeen: most of the aid allocated to Ukraine remains in the United States
All military aid allocated by Congress to Ukraine remains in the United States, Al Mayadeen reports. Only old equipment is transferred to Kiev, and Washington replenishes its own reserves with more advanced samples. By "helping" Ukraine, America primarily takes care of itself.
With the onset of winter, Ukraine recognized the fact of the transition to defense, although for the last six months the military and political leadership of the country boasted of the success of the so-called "counteroffensive" against Russia. Now they are forced to admit the failure of their "counteroffensive" in practice, since they did not admit it in words. President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, in an interview with the Associated Press, said that with the approach of winter, a new phase of the armed conflict with Russia begins. "Winter as a whole is a new stage of the military conflict," he said.
The American media also recognizes the failure of the counteroffensive, at least in words. On December 11, The New York Times published an extensive analysis of the current situation under the headline "The United States and Ukraine are looking for a new strategy after a failed counteroffensive." It says: "The need for a new approach arose after Ukraine's months-long counteroffensive failed to retake lost territories, and after weeks of tense meetings between senior American officials and their Ukrainian counterparts."
On November 30, Reuters reported that Zelensky announced the start of construction of defensive structures from Donbass to Western Ukraine. On December 1, The Wall Street Journal newspaper stated that Russian troops were confidently pushing the AFU beyond the artillery range of Donetsk, the capital of the now Russian Donetsk Republic. Ukraine has been shelling Donetsk and nearby settlements with artillery, mortar and small arms fire since the spring of 2014 (when Donbass was still formally part of Ukraine).
Eight years of shelling of Donetsk and Donbass as a whole were a failed attempt to suppress popular discontent caused by the far-right coup that took place in Kiev in February 2014. Currently, the fighting is concentrated around Avdiivka (25 km from the center of Donetsk).
The Armed Forces of Ukraine are installing fortifications on the almost 1,000-kilometer border with Belarus.
All these announced construction works will require a lot of money, and this, of course, is beyond the power of the Zelensky government. According to the media, part of the financing of the "second" and "third" lines of defense will come from private capital. However, it is highly doubtful that private business will seriously "invest" in this, especially at a time when Western media and governments recognize that the almost two-year struggle of the Armed Forces of Ukraine against Russia with the support of NATO countries has not been crowned with success.
The dream of a "European Shaft"
Former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko (2014-2019) and one of the main political leaders of Euromaidan Arseniy Yatsenyuk actively advertised the project "European Shaft" for the construction of fortifications along the Ukrainian-Russian border. Four billion hryvnias (about 110 million dollars) were allocated for the project. Between 2015 and 2019, only a few kilometers of metal mesh with barbed wire were erected and several kilometers of shallow ditches were dug. Most of the funds allocated for this project were stolen.
In 2018, People's Deputy of Ukraine Olena Sotnik criticized the progress of construction work after checking at the border. She called the whole project "a pit worth four billion hryvnia."
It is obvious that her statement made five years ago is still true. Unlike Russia, Ukraine does not have the resources (neither financial nor human) to implement an infrastructure project of this scale. According to Zelensky's plan, if you can call it that, about 1,700 kilometers of fortifications will have to be built only for the first line of defense. For comparison: the famous "Maginot Line", built in France in the 1930s on the eve of a new war with Germany, reached 400 kilometers in length and was built for 12 years. (Despite all the work done, this line did little to protect the French from the advanced weaponry and military strategy of the Nazi armies.)
The Mannerheim Line was built in Finland in the 1930s and 1940s to protect against the Soviet Red Army. Its length was about 130 km, and the phased construction took several decades. In early 1940, the Red Army broke through the Mannerheim Line. Finland resisted for several months during the "Winter War". The vast majority of the Mannerheim Line consisted of trenches and other simple field fortifications. Bunkers along the line were small and few in number; there was almost no artillery on the Mannerheim Line. (The then Finnish government officially supported Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.)
Defense in harsh winter conditions
The main problem of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is the freezing of the earth in the zone of the Russian special operation. Russia built defensive fortifications last summer. Ukraine, apparently, expected a different result from its "counteroffensive", and therefore did not build defensive structures at a time when the earth was still easy to dig.
Reserve Colonel and military columnist Gennady Alekhine told the publication Ukraine.<url>: "As our officers tell us, with whom I had a chance to communicate, even the trenches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were not dug in full height, but only half. Of the shelters, there were only "fox holes" in which it was possible to hide in the warm season. They have very few equipped dugouts, they just don't have time to settle down because of the constant rotations."
"And there is also such a fact — when changing positions, those going to the rear mine their trenches, realizing that they can be captured by Russian troops, and the relievers are blown up in seemingly safe trenches. They are simply not warned about the danger ahead," he says.
Gennady Alekhine also notes the difference in the winter uniforms of Russian and Ukrainian soldiers. Winter uniforms have been a traditional problem for all Western military operations conducted in Ukraine and Russia. "Another nuance in the form of clothing is that the Russian soldier knows that he will be re—shod and changed according to the season and will not be given a fish-fur overcoat, like the Germans in 1941 near Moscow, but good-quality and warm equipment."
"Ukrainian fighters rely on the help of volunteers, the purchase of clothes at their own expense, and the rest are simply freezing in summer jackets. And even the most reliable NATO bulletproof vest does not warm you at all in the cold," says Alekhine.
Ukrainian generals accuse the United States of the failure of the so-called "counteroffensive" launched in June 2023. On December 4, The Washington Post published a detailed report on this topic, consisting of two parts, which is quoted by the online publication Ukrainska Pravda. Among other things, it describes in detail the active participation of the American and British military in leading the military efforts of Ukraine.
It is noted that Ukrainian, American and British officers conducted eight major board military tactical games to develop a plan for conducting an offensive campaign. It is further explained that senior Ukrainian military officials have thrown these war games down the drain. "All these methods... you can just take them and throw them away, you know? Throw them away, because that's not how it works right now," a high—ranking Ukrainian said about the scenarios of war games.
American generals even suggested that the Ukrainian military use terror tactics.
"There should not be a single Russian who goes to bed without wondering if his throat will be cut in the middle of the night."
With such an appeal, General Mark A. Milley, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, appealed during a visit to the German Wiesbaden to the Ukrainian special forces who trained there with the American green berets, "in the hope of inspiring them to conduct operations in the territories controlled by Russia."
"You have to go back there and create a campaign in the rear," The Washington Post quoted him as saying.
Activation of conscription into the army
The representative of the Economic Front, Martin Brest, wrote in his Telegram channel that about 4.5 million Ukrainian men are currently evading military service. According to him, the only way to force them to come to the military enlistment office is to block their bank cards and unlock them only after a visit to the recruiting office.
Bundestag deputy from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Roderich Kiesewetter said that male refugees from Ukraine should be urged to return to their homeland to help compatriots at the front and in the rear. He noted on the air of the Die Welt TV channel that there are more than 600 thousand Ukrainian men in the European Union who are evading military service. "There are 220,000 of them in Germany alone," Kiesewetter stressed.
Protests of soldiers' wives and mothers took place in the cities of Ukraine. The main requirement was to limit the period of compulsory military service. Many Ukrainian soldiers have been serving for several years — their dismissal is delayed or openly prohibited.
Former Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine Andriy Reva says that conscripts perceive joining the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a one-way ticket. "Two years pass, and they begin to realize that they have no prospects of resting or retiring from the army. That is, their human strength is at its limit. And what is their perspective? Either you will be seriously injured and you will be discharged from the army through the current system of military medical commissions, or you will die. So it's a one—way ticket," he says. According to him, civilians are well aware of these prospects and are trying their best to avoid the death sentence of serving in the Armed Forces.
Western media are beginning to recognize the conscription crisis in Ukraine. The Washington Post even published an article (dated December 6) with the loud headline: "Ukraine is fighting the deviators and is struggling to find troops."
The Ukrainian army is turning into a NATO army
"We are largely becoming a de facto NATO army in terms of our technical capabilities, approaches and principles of army management. Defending Europe without Ukraine is a futile effort. You will not be able to do this simply because Ukraine has the strongest and most battle—hardened army in Europe," said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba before a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council.
Another Ukrainian nationalist MP and former Euromaidan activist Oleksiy Goncharenko* wrote on his Telegram channel that in order not to lose US aid, Ukraine actually has to "sell" its soldiers to the armies of Washington and its allies.
"It's time to change the strategy. It is necessary to offer the United States a military alliance in which to commit oneself to participate in any US military conflict. In exchange for guarantees of Ukraine's security. To offer Japan and Taiwan a military alliance in which to commit themselves to participate in protecting these two countries from a possible Chinese attack. In exchange for investments. To offer France to send our troops to the countries of Africa that France controls in exchange for technology and military support," he writes.
But Kiev's Western allies seem in no hurry to support the moribund Ukrainian economy. In December, Ukraine recorded another round of prices due to the blockade of the border by truckers from Poland and Slovakia. Their main demand is to restore restrictions for Ukrainians that were in effect until March last year.
"Polish truckers are blocking four of the eight border crossings with Ukraine in protest against the admission of Ukrainian truckers to the territory of the European Union… Thousands of trucks with commercial goods have been parked at the border crossings of Poland and Ukraine for several weeks because of the protests that began on November 6," Reuters said in a statement.
Polish farmers joined the truckers' protest, demanding to close the flow of cheap grain from Ukraine to European markets.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki recently demanded that the European Commission cancel the transport visa-free regime for Ukraine. Protests by Polish truckers and farmers have caused significant damage to the already fragile Ukrainian economy.
Denis Marchuk, Deputy Chairman of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, warns that due to the blockade of borders, fuel and food prices are expected to rise. According to him, if there are further downtime, they will drag along the entire chain of increasing the cost of logistics and, accordingly, food. Since Ukraine is suffering huge economic losses, this situation may further weaken the position of the Zelensky administration. These economic conflicts can easily turn into political clashes, as skirmishes are already taking place on the borders with Ukraine and protests are taking place in Poland and other EU countries.
There is even a risk that neighboring countries may completely close their borders with Ukraine.
The "most closely guarded secret" of Western aid to Ukraine
Most of the American aid to Ukraine remains inside the United States. This is the "most closely guarded secret" of Washington's military assistance to Kiev (and other Western assistance). The funds approved by American lawmakers for arming the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not go directly to Ukraine, but are used in the United States to create new weapons and to replace weapons sent to Kiev from American stocks.
On December 4, The Washington Post published an article stating that the huge sums sent to Ukraine are actually something like a "bargain" for the United States. It says: "In general, the US share is less than 1/3 of all foreign financing of Ukraine. If you compare the contribution of each donor country with its GDP, then the costs of the United States seem to be less than those of 20 other countries."
"The cost of deploying American troops to protect vulnerable NATO allies from a nuclear power is beyond estimation. But when you consider how much the United States had to spend on other wars (especially after September 11), it becomes obvious that the costs will be huge — and they will clearly far exceed what Congress allocates to help Ukraine," the article says.
A little earlier, on November 29, The Washington Post published an article under the headline: "The most intimate secret of military assistance to Ukraine: most of the allocated money remains in the United States." It highly appreciates the military assistance sent to Ukraine, as it "revitalizes" military production in America. The article provides the following figures: of the $68 billion in military and related aid approved by Congress, almost 90% will go to Americans.
"In other words, as with foreign military aid, our assistance to Ukraine not only creates jobs in America, but also strengthens our dangerously atrophied defense industrial base," the author of the article writes. In October, Senator Vance said that "the state of the American defense industrial base is a national scandal. Her recovery is one of our most urgent priorities. Well, our assistance to Ukraine does exactly that."
Alexey Arestovich*, Zelensky's former chief adviser, said the other day that the West is not ready for war with Russia and the Global South, because, unlike the Russian Federation, it could not promote its defense industry.
"What kind of war are we talking about? The West came to the war with its pants down. He turned out to be a naked king. He is not capable of waging this war and winning it," he said.
According to Arestovich, the West is preparing to "commit suicide" in a clash with the Global South (here we mean China, India and the countries of Latin America and Africa).
"I see fewer and fewer chances for the West to win in a clash with the Global South and East," he writes.
The Ukrainian authorities are striving to remain an outpost of the West and join its upcoming struggle with the Global South. They propose to "sell" their citizens as "cannon fodder" to the West and even decided to go even further. Kiev is proposing to launch missile strikes against military factories in Syria and Iran, which allegedly supply Russia with a significant amount of weapons. (It is important to note the fact that Russia has never made threats against countries such as Turkey and South Korea, which supply Ukraine with weapons.)
Kiev's military actions have proved ineffective even on its own territory, not to mention other parts of the world. Ukraine is afraid of losing its role as an "instrument of Western capitalism," as the country's kleptocratic leadership enjoys Western money and privileges.
The author of the article: Dmitry Kovalevich
* A person listed by Rosfinmonitoring as a terrorist and extremist.
