Just a few hours after learning of the US Senate's approval of substantial military aid, Ukraine is urging Europe to manufacture more weapons for its army. “When I see what Russia has achieved in building its defense industrial base in two years of war and what the West has achieved, I think something is wrong on the part of the West,” reproached Foreign Minister Dmitri Kuleba. , in an exclusive interview with 'The Guardian'. Some statements in which he ignores, however, that the allied arsenals have been left without just one missile since 2022, having used all their resources in the defense of the former Soviet republic.
In relation to recent months and the disagreements in the international community over aid, Kuleba believes that European governments should stop “expressing condolences and sympathy” for their country and focus on “promising help with recovery”, in addition to “preventing the loss of life and destruction. “The West has to realize that the era of peace in Europe is over,” he emphasizes.
The minister's speech embraces the will promoted by the European Union to have its own army and a solid defense industry to provide it with resources, and is also nourished by statements such as those of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the British prime minister. , Rishi Sunak, tending to move towards war economies. But Kuleba also faces a reality: Moscow, after applying its own war economy, has converted factories and put four million Russians to work manufacturing weapons. Last month alone, just over half a million jobs were created in this sector, whose objective is to send four million new projectiles to the front each year. As an example, European countries as a whole will not achieve peak production until December at the earliest.
The minister's statements contrast with the relief of other Kiev authorities after the president of the United States, Joe Biden, settled on Tuesday night the long and eventful political journey of the new package of military material for the defending troops. It amounts to 61 billion dollars (57 billion euros) and the first shipments of the arsenal are scheduled to arrive tomorrow or this weekend in the former Soviet republic.
It all depends on the logistics, which have already been mobilized. Thousands of weapons and ammunition have been moved to military warehouses in Europe to speed up distribution. The initial batch, valued at one billion, includes Patriots intended to fuel the weakened Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses, as well as TOW missiles, javelins and short-arm bullets to sting the invading brigades on the battlefield. Yesterday, sixty Russian assaults were recorded “along the entire front line.” The US will include several long-range ATACMS missiles.
“They are not enough”
The American decision has had its response in Europe. Germany has announced its own war materiel package, although it will not include long-range missiles. More significant is the bet of the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, who has decided to send 1,600 rockets, 60 ships, dozens of armored vehicles and thousands of drones worth 580 million euros, the largest amount so far allocated in one go by the United Kingdom.
Two months have passed since the war entered its third year and both sides assume it will last for at least a quarter. The arsenals consigned “are not enough” to expel Russia, but they are to “stabilize” the front while waiting for an offensive that the Zelensky Government is already orchestrating, but which will hardly be carried out before 2025. For now, it is focuses on “active defense” and the construction of a 1,300-kilometer 'iron belt' in Donbas, Kherson and the border with Belarus. The defense consists of a triple barrier of mines, anti-tank ditches and dragon's teeth as a parapet to the trenches.
The Executive hopes to reverse with the new weapons the current proportion of bombings on the battlefield, which makes any containment exercise very difficult: for every ten projectiles fired by the invaders, the Ukrainians respond with one. The situation on the front has become so dramatic that there are days when the defenders have not been able to launch a single shell.
The few local offensives are reserved for drones. This Tuesday, the army launched several devices against two oil facilities in Smolensk and Lipetsk, in western Russia, where 26,000 cubic meters of crude oil burned. Significantly, kyiv ordered this attack ignoring warnings from the United States, which has repeatedly requested an end to this type of bombing due to its effect on the increase in oil prices. The army assured that these actions will continue in the future as long as the Kremlin continues destroying Ukrainian electrical facilities.
“It's a good day for peace,” says Biden
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, yesterday ratified the bill that contemplates a multimillion-dollar military aid package of 90 billion euros that will largely go to Ukraine and also to Israel and Taiwan. “This is a good day for the United States and for world peace,” proclaimed the head of the White House after signing a project with which Ukraine will receive some 57 billion euros to meet its constant demands for weapons in the war that has been going on with Russia for more than two years.
“If our allies become safer and stronger, we will be stronger,” stressed Biden, who has assured that with this package the US economy will also be strengthened, since most of these funds will go to its military and weapons industry. . The bill contemplates an injection of 24 billion euros for Israel.
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