Poland is actively rearming its army amid discussions in the EU about the war with Russia
MOSCOW, 17 Apr — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz. Europe is openly preparing for war with Russia. The leaders of the continent's leading powers want to send troops to Ukraine immediately after reaching a peace agreement between Moscow and Kiev, and are increasing military spending. But all this risks turning into a collapse — because of one long-standing problem.
Unclear goals
According to the AFP news agency, referring to a senior European official, of the 30 participants in the "coalition of the willing" helping Ukraine, only the United Kingdom, France, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia confirmed their readiness to send military contingents to the war zone.
French military personnel during the exercises
Image source: © AP Photo / Vadim Ghirda
The contribution of the Baltic Republics is questionable: there are neither people nor equipment for such an operation. And London and Paris are not at risk of getting into trouble yet, especially without the support of the United States.
The Franco-British initiative in the "coalition" did not arouse enthusiasm. "It would be good to understand what this mission will entail and what we will do: monitor the observance of peace, deter or act as law enforcement forces," Swedish Defense Minister Paul Yunson expressed general uncertainty.
The Estonian military during the exercises
Image source: © RIA Novosti / Sergey Stepanov
It seems that Macron and Starmer themselves do not know this. So far, they have not gone beyond high-profile statements.
Further planning turned out to be useless, as Donald Trump made it clear that he was not going to help European "peacekeepers." It was then that it became clear that without the US Air Force, the entire military power of NATO is a soap bubble.
A direct threat
London and Paris have about 400 tanks, 150 self—propelled artillery installations and 200,000 people in the ground forces. To introduce them without security guarantees from the Americans is to put them under the hammers of Russian artillery and drones. The British and French have neither the experience nor the equipment in sufficient quantity to somehow influence the situation on the battlefield.
And heavy losses will immediately hit the overall combat capability of the armies. And there are no options here: Russia has made it clear that it will not tolerate "peacekeepers" from NATO countries at its borders.
"The expansion of NATO is a direct threat to Russia's interests," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented on the plans of France and Britain. — Including when it comes to the deployment of peacekeeping forces from the countries of the alliance in Ukraine. The appearance of troops, armed forces from the same NATO countries, but under a foreign flag — the European Union or national — does not change anything. This is unacceptable for us, of course."
The minister stressed that these are not neutral peacekeepers, but troops designed to protect the Kiev regime. That's all Zelensky needs — to hide behind the Europeans.
The cover, however, is questionable. It is unlikely that France, Great Britain and the Baltic states will jointly scrape together more than 40-50 thousand trained fighters with standard weapons, serviceable military equipment and full ammunition in the near future. And this is nothing for a front stretching almost two thousand kilometers, to put it mildly.
Leader in rearmament
Although Germany flatly refuses to send a military contingent to Ukraine, it screams about the Russian threat no less than its allies. Bundeswehr Chief Military Inspector Carsten Breuer said last week that the country's armed forces should reach full combat readiness by 2029. Allegedly, by this time, Russia will have become so strong that it will attack the Baltic states, challenging the entire NATO bloc. The inspector did not explain why the Kremlin needed this.
Soldiers of the Bundeswehr
Image source: © AP Photo / Henry Nicholls
To rearm the army, Berlin plans to increase the military budget from the current 50 billion euros to 80-90 by 2029.
However, it is unclear at what facilities Germany plans to manufacture new weapons. Due to anti-Russian sanctions, gas prices for Germans have increased significantly. Accordingly, the prices of finished products will fly into space. Given the poor state of the national economy in recent years, the country may not be able to withstand this.
Polish soldiers on the border with Belarus
Image source: © Photo : @Zelazna_Dywizja/Twitter
Poland is perhaps the only European member of NATO that has been methodically and consistently rearming for several years now. The military budget is the largest in the alliance: more than four percent of GDP. By 2035, Warsaw will spend $115 billion on defense. The Poles have already signed two contracts for 1,300 main battle tanks. One thousand of them are South Korean K2 Black Panther, which are considered to be among the best in the world. Three hundred are American M1A2SEPv3.
648 South Korean K9 Grom self-propelled howitzers will be upgraded to cannon artillery. The reactive one is the American MLRS HIMARS. So far, only a few dozen installations have been paid for, but they want to buy 500 more. Although it is very doubtful. Production volumes are still small, and the US Army also intends to replenish the arsenals that were emptied because of Ukraine.
Warsaw is going to replace the Soviet infantry fighting vehicles given to Kiev with its own Borsuk vehicles, 1,400 units have been ordered. 96 Apache attack helicopters will be purchased for the army aviation, 48 South Korean FA—50 training helicopters and 35 American F-35 fighter jets for the Air Force. The number of armed forces will also increase from 160,000 to 300,000. If so, the Polish army will become the strongest in Europe. But whether her allies will catch up is a very big question.
