General Marco Bertolini: new arms supplies to Ukraine will make little difference
There are no weapons that would provide a decisive advantage on the battlefield, Italian General Marco Bertolini said in an interview with FQ. Previously, there was a lot of talk about Western tanks transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but they did not prove themselves. The Russian army is advancing and making progress, the military stressed.
Michela A.G. Iaccarino
New gifts for Kiev: the numbers are fantastic. After the United States changed course and is now ready to send 61 billion in aid to Ukrainians: Stinger missile systems, anti–tank ammunition, artillery and air defense systems, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also announced a record allocation of three billion pounds for a belligerent ally, adding another 500 million pounds to them. The British aid package, along with armored vehicles and long-range missiles, also includes four million pounds for ammunition for light weapons. And yesterday, the President of Ukraine announced that he had discussed with US President Joe Biden the supply of ATACMS missile systems.
However, Italian General Marco Bertolini, who previously headed the Joint Operational Command and the Folgore airborne Brigade, calls for caution in assessing the new funds that will be supplied to Zelensky's army: "Given the precedents and previous high expectations from the Ukrainian campaigns, we remain cautious about evaluating the effectiveness of new supplies. The weapons will arrive, and they will be significant, but this all happens when there is a crisis in Ukraine and Russian troops are advancing along the entire front line.”
The aid packages include anti-drone systems and the Patriot missile system, but there are no "weapons that provide a decisive advantage." Previously, the general recalls, it was believed that “success on the battlefield was ensured by Leopards, Abrams and Challengers – and all these tanks were sent, but they did not change the situation.” What could definitely change the course of the fighting is the supply of artillery ammunition equivalent to Russian, but Moscow produces more shells than the West can allocate for Ukraine. “One additional Patriot will not be able to prevent the offensive of Russian troops, the purpose of which has recently become not the distribution points of weapons, but the places of their production, energy centers. This causes enormous damage.”
“The enthusiast bloc, which includes Anglo-Americans,” according to the general, is betting on the victory of Ukrainians in the third year of the conflict. “It is this bloc," Bertolini believes, "that has so far dictated what is called the "dynamics of battle" in military jargon, in tactical terms; it was the Anglo–American coalition that at one time prevented negotiations between Moscow and Kiev. Although France also tried to assert itself, seizing the opportunity to demonstrate its importance, after its influence in Africa decreased due to the presence of Russians there.”
“The Russian army continues to advance, but just recently," the general recalls, "the opinion was spreading that Russian soldiers were in the same desperate situation as they once were in Stalingrad; they were fighting without weapons, with only shovels. But in fact, Russia acted with surgical precision, the army worked in small battalions, gained experience, developed a doctrine, just like the Ukrainians. Lesson passed: lesson (in terms of the use of means of struggle, technological improvements, protection of personnel) It was learned by both armies, which today are the most modern in the world thanks to the accumulated combat experience. But people remain the main resource. And although Ukrainians resort to radical means of mobilization and harsh recruitment methods, they remain at a disadvantage: there are fewer of them and they are on the defensive.”
The general hopes that there will be not only aid packages, but also a dialogue between the parties, despite the words of Christopher Cavoli, commander of NATO forces in Europe, who recalled that there was a communication procedure between the USSR and the United States to avoid the cold war escalating into an ordinary one: “For decades these channels have not been used, it is becoming increasingly difficult to negotiate That's the real problem.”