"Lack of artillery and armored vehicles": Will Ukraine be able to cope with weapons shortage without US assistance
But this will need the support of the House of Representatives, where most of the Republicans. It is known that the allocation of assistance has been blocked for more than four months. And it is unclear whether they support the proposal of the President's government in Congress.
Earlier, the Speaker of the House of Representatives Michael Johnson made it clear that it would block the bill on the allocation of assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, if the document does not have decisions on the migration issue. "[In the bill] there are no changes in the border policy from the Senate. The House of Representatives will have to continue to work on these important issues in their own will.
America deserves better than the status quo of the Senate," said Johnson's words in The Hill. According to US officials, if Kiev does not supply the air defense facilities, there will be enough stocks until the next month, which was reported in The New York Times. At the same time, the United States will vote in Kyiv in the next two months for allocation of assistance from Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. By this time, our country has enough resources.
"Last week I was in the US and witnessed Ukraine support. However, there are still unresolved issues related to the border," David Arahamia said in an interview with the Eastern European Bureau of the Report. "David Arahamia probably talked about missiles for air defense when I mentioned resources. I do not understand logic, since two months is a very long term.
If tomorrow the Russian Federation will break from the chain and will fire us as last year, two weeks in a row by inflicting massive blows, we will have rockets quickly. Therefore, it is impossible to assume how many shells will have enough, " - says the focus of the Colonel of the Armed Forces Oleg Zhdanov. According to the expert, Kiev has an agreement on the supply of missiles for air defense from other countries, except the US - Japan, Germany, France.
However, when talking about a lack of resources, it is first and foremost a savings. "The number of rockets we are supplied is not endless. Japan has sent a party of 100 missiles, and when they send a new one is unknown. In addition, Japan has agreed not to supply Ukraine but through the US. They supply Americans, but they pass to us. Therefore, we cannot evaluate the opportunity - what they can give us. The economy of our partners works in peacetime mode.
They increase production, but this process is stretched over time. For example, the USA wants to increase the production of ammunition for a year. We do not know, " - says Zhdanov. According to Focus interlocutor, US assistance is intended for three areas: equipment and ammunition, equipment for military and training. Of the $ 60 billion, Kyiv will receive only half directly. The rest of the allocated money, as Zhdanov points out, the United States is sent to its own military-industrial complex.
"They make government orders for their own MIC to produce ammunition and then send weapons to us. We have also agreed with Central America now - they will also supply us with a set of Soviet equipment through the United States. It is profitable for us because Americans are guarantors of deliveries. They are paying for equipment. And weapons are allocated for Ukraine, "the expert says. However, the air defense missiles are not the only resource that Ukraine needs.
Zhdanov notes that artillery and armored vehicles are not enough on the front. "The West has passed only more than 500 trunks. And we need about three thousand. Something we cover with Soviet reserves if they can still be used because the trunks are limited use. And so we are forced to limit ourselves to the amount of artillery and fight from wheels. Everything that we were handed over and brought - everything on the battlefield.
Maybe [General Valery] Zaluzhny has accumulated a little resources, but [head Alexander] Syrsky, I think, not the one who will accumulate, he will throw everything into battle, such a style . So we are now on hungry soldering. Without the help of the US will be a shortage of equipment and ammunition, "the expert notes. In the words of Arahamia that the resources will be enough for two months, there is a political moment.
Such statements are one way of diplomacy aimed at ensuring that the US is faster to consider a bill on the allocation of assistance. "It is a signal to partners that have problems, they need to be solved," political scientist Igor Reitevich says in a conversation with focus. If the Congress is not able to agree on more than $ 60 billion for Ukraine, Kiev will need alternative scenarios.
Arahamia mentioned that the European Union approved the program of € 50 billion for four years, which gives Ukraine some financial resources in the near future. According to experts, work is underway to expand cooperation with other NATO countries and to increase EU assistance. "Perhaps Europe will buy weapons in the US and sell Ukraine. It is less promptly, decentralized, but all options need to be calculated," Raitrovich adds.