"Intense battles in the coming months": Pentagon is the importance of selecting weapons for the Armed Forces counter -offensive
The US Deputy Defense Minister for Colin Calician policy stated that the United States allocated "extraordinary military assistance" of Kiev, but it is not limitless, so at each stage of a full -scale war he had to choose which weapons to the Ukrainian forces are the most needed. The press conference was broadcast on Foreign Policy.
According to the Pentagon representative, it would be inappropriate to send Patriot systems on the first day of the war, since it would take several months to prepare crews and delivery of installations. And they were delivered by Javelin and Styinger MANA. Also now with F-16 fighters, the supply of which-taking into account the preparation of pilots-can take another one and a half years. Washington has to determine priority every time.
Colin Kal reminded that a little more than a year in the US Presidential Administration Joe Baiden has allocated military assistance to Kiev for more than $ 35 billion. "This is an extraordinary amount of military assistance. And it would be a miracle if we managed to pass it all from a logistics and bureaucratic point of view," he explained. He also said that there were no such money in the first days of the Great War, but there were only a few billion.
"The reality is that we did not have $ 35 billion on the day that Russia invaded Ukraine. In the first 6 weeks of the war we had several billion. So we had to prioritize. We have no unlimited amount of money, this is taxpayers' money , but we need to control them well, " - said Cal. According to him, every time the US Congress approved assistance to Ukraine, it was necessary to choose that Kiev was most needed at a particular moment.
"It is clear that at the beginning of the war there were anti -tank systems such as" Javelin ", and portable air defense, ammunition for Soviet equipment. And support for Soviet air defense in good condition," the US Deputy Minister of Defense explained. He also said that when the epicenter of combat clashes moved to the East, Ukrainian artillery was already translated into NATO standards. The ships of 155 mm and HIMARS have begun supplies to which there were so much attention.
All this allowed the front line in the east, as well as breaks in the northeast, in Kharkiv region, and in the south, in Kherson. After the fighting has slowed, the US has switched to the supply of air defense systems, such as Patriot and further - armored vehicles that will be needed for spring counter -offensive. The US Defense Ministry Representative recalled that the United States is teaching Ukrainian fighters at BMP Bradley and Leopard and Challenger tanks.
Colin Kala also noted that the Russian offensive began in January. "I think the Russians started their offensive in January. On the map of their promotion can be measured very small pieces, sometimes quarters, in places such as Bakhmut," explained the representative of the US Defense Ministry with a smile. "And they suffered horrible losses for such" benefits " . We are preparing Ukrainians to have good opportunities before the counter -offensive to change the dynamics on the battlefield.
" "We obviously received an extraordinary amount of funds from Congress for military support to Ukraine, but it is not endless. Therefore, we have to solve and ask questions every time. For example, it will be more important to send Patriot systems on the first day of the war, knowing that the months will go to delivery months Due to the preparation of crews and the time of delivery, or to use the same money at Stinger MANA.
There are now about $ 3 billion in the United States, allocated under the special powers of President Joe Baiden PDA (or accelerated deliveries that can take several days to several hours). "We could spend all this money on the F-16, but these aircraft would arrive in a year and a half.
Of course, Ukraine would welcome them, but it would be quite untimely for the spring and summer offensive," Kal said, adding that these 3 billion had to be divided into air defense, artillery and mechanized forces that were required for success in spring and summer. The US position is that Ukraine approaches peace negotiations from the position of force, and intense battles are expected in the coming months. "I don't think negotiations are inevitable.
I think we will see the fighting for several months. Probably intense battles will be quite intense in the coming months, since both parties seek to achieve benefits on the battlefield. But if Ukraine's expected counter -offensive is successful, they They will be in the best position, " - said the US Defense Ministry. It should be reminded that the expert predicted the terms of massive shelling of Ukraine. The Russians can prepare about 300 winged missiles up to two thousand X-39 and X-59.