Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Photo: REUTERS
Even before the meeting of NATO defense ministers at an airbase in Germany, the United States “opened the cards”: it showed the allies what mountains of weapons and ammunition they decided to provide Ukraine (“KP” spoke about this the previous day) . Well, this is almost the same as what happens at meetings of robbers in law: the rich gang leader will throw a large amount of money on a tray for the wounded “colleague”, and then carefully watch who will give more.
Nobody gave more to the Americans. Yes, nobody expected this: Washington, with its military budget of $858 billion (which is more than that of all NATO countries combined), can afford even less. He is the undisputed world champion in this regard. Opening the meeting at the US military base in Germany in Ramstein, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin boasted of “a large amount of US military equipment for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This is unprecedented.” “. And then he explained why this is done:
“The new assistance package will strengthen Ukraine’s air defense system, protect its skies, its civilian population. We will also strengthen its defense capabilities on the battlefield. Also, as part of the assistance package, Ukraine will receive combat vehicles: 59 Bradleys, 19 Strykers and other armored vehicles “We are also talking about artillery shells and other ammunition. The United States is determined to lead by example on how Ukraine can be helped. The United States has also given the Ukrainian military the skills it needs to be more effective on the battlefield. Our European partners have joined us. The US will continue to increase financial assistance, prioritizing cooperation with the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
Pay attention to the key words in this rant: “set an example.” In other words, it sounds like “do what I do”.
It’s funny: if the Americans, both before and after the meeting in Ramstein, were loudly trumpeting their arms deliveries to Kyiv, then their other participants (and there were about 50 of them in total, including pocket allies in NATO) . ) kept a modest silence. Perhaps there was such an agreement, so as not to scare the taxpayers of their countries with the scale of the dumping of weapons.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video on his Telegram channel in which he comments on the results of the meeting in Ramstein and clearly tried to soften what was expected, but not received in Kyiv, by announcing the full scale of arms supplies. to Ukraine. .
That was the hope of an impressive propaganda chip – they say, look, the world, as a sign of solidarity, is flooding us with weapons. But the Ramstein organizers did not want to do this. And there was a special reason for that. Behind the closed doors of the meeting, the cries and complaints of some NATO defense ministers leaked that the movement of military equipment seriously devastates the arsenals of national armies and undermines their combat readiness. Zelensky clearly concealed his disappointment that the final figures for arms deliveries to Kyiv were not made public and slyly “dismissed” the NATO leadership: “It is not always possible to publicly announce what the Rammstein format is talking about. This is a Closed discussion. And that’s how it should be.” But Zelensky himself called the meeting participants: “Do not argue about the number of tanks, but open deliveries in principle.” Opened only by the British, Others got away with just general words.
In addition, the meeting was accompanied by constant rumors and even disputes: in the morning it was stated that “Germany is no longer opposed to the delivery of German tanks to Kyiv by Poland”, and in the evening it was stated that this was nonsense. Or there was a rumor that Poland would give Kyiv a batch of “Leopards” even without the consent of Germany (a reference to the words of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki), then “Warsaw did not say such a thing.”
The ministers were clearly shaking, confusing the onlookers. journalistic fraternity. Meanwhile, a very sharp drama broke out at the airbase: some of its participants, forgetting about decency, quarreled on the ground, only they did not swear. Poland became more and more wickedly enraged, accusing Germany of treason because she herself does not want to transfer Leopard tanks to Ukraine, and Warsaw does not allow this. This is for you the question of how the Zits leader of the NATO gang group, Jens Stoltenberg, stupidly and hypocritically repeats at all corners: “The unity of the bloc is stronger than ever! We have a friendly family!” A “friendly family” often looks like a serpentarium. And here is the first conclusion: the Ramstein meeting showed that there is no “lasting unity” in the ranks of NATO, this is just a false propaganda slogan. An attempt to put a good face on a bad game.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin gnashed his teeth over the head of Germany’s new Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and forcefully wrung his arms, demanding both the supply of German Leopard tanks to Ukraine and Poland’s permission to do the same. But the German resisted. True, at the same time, he constantly hid behind the back of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who came up with a cunning move: first, they say, let the States put their Abrams tanks in Ukraine, and then me. The states do not want to do this and also “wagging their tails”: they say that our cars are very heavy and will not go over the Ukrainian bridges, and they will get stuck in the mud on the tower. But in fact, they are afraid that American tanks will burn shamefully in the Ukrainian steppes or end up at a trophy exhibition in Moscow or Donetsk.
A funny episode occurred at the moment when the journalist shamelessly “bitten” Pistorius with the question: why did he still refuse to supply “Leopards” to Ukraine? The minister, with the innocence of a wet preschooler, replied: “I myself don’t know how it happened”…
Well, what is the result? As a result, a plan for a new pumping of Ukraine with Western weapons was adopted. Also, with a clear emphasis on offense. The scale of what was promised to Kyiv at Ramstein, even by the Americans, seems impressive.
But even the hedgehog understands that all this military iron requires professional handling. It will not be possible to quickly train the Ukrainian crews. And NATO requires Kyiv to launch an offensive already in March-April. It is highly likely that in this case, imported military equipment will be controlled not only by the Ukrainian army. But also American professionals under the guise of “vacationers and volunteers.” Large volumes of Western weapons (and not all of them are new) for Ukraine will inevitably require mountains of spare parts. And this is also railway steps or caravans of trucks on the roads. And? Will we humbly look at all this, smoking on the “Prima” mound?
Moscow has already declared several times: all Western military equipment supplied to Ukraine will be our legitimate military target. It would be nice if this warning were followed by real blows. The task of making the supply of Western military equipment to Kyiv meaningless passes to the head of our special operation. Our intelligence knows very well the “entry points” of this team on the Ukrainian border with Poland, Romania and Slovakia. And we have enough Caliber and Daggers. First of all, it is necessary to beat Western guns and tanks with them, where they only crawl towards Ukraine. Because if they are distributed in combat positions, it will be much more difficult to do this, and they can seriously delay the implementation of operational plans.
