From Business Insider:
"The West always gives Ukraine weapons one year after it actually needs them, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country's Western allies always give it weapons one year after it actually needs them.
"Every decision to which we, then later everyone together, comes to is late by around one year," Zelenskyy told Reuters on Monday.
"But it is what it is: one big step forward, but before that, two steps back," he added.
Zelenskyy made the comments after he and others spent months begging for more weapons as Russia ramped up its attacks.
Republicans in Congress finally approved a $61 billion package last month, which the Pentagon said could reach Ukraine within days.
However, delayed weapons deliveries mean Ukraine is now struggling to push back Russian advances, retired US Air Force colonel Cedric Leighton told CNN last week."
The report diplomatically spares the feelings of Americans by omitting the fact that the package was delayed by whole six months because of Republican opposition in the Congress.
Zelensky's words resonate with what an unnamed Ukrainian officer told earlier to Politico:
"The West keeps sending Ukraine weapons so late they 'are no longer relevant,' a senior officer says
The officer, who was interviewed anonymously, said Ukraine's allies were useful in the early stages of the invasion.
But these days, they said, the support has been too little and too slow to meaningfully help repel Russia.
He said the shoulder-fired anti-tank missiles provided by the UK and the US in the first weeks of the invasion were delivered on time, and proved decisive in the defense of Kyiv.
"But often, we just don't get the weapons systems at the time we need them — they come when they're no longer relevant," the officer said.
"Every weapon has its own right time. F-16s were needed in 2023; they won't be right for 2024," he said.
Western allies — after months of lobbying — agreed to give Ukraine F-16s, but none of the planes are due on the battlefield until later this year..
Ukraine complained that was never enough to prompt a breakthrough, but the US and others said the slow pace was necessary to reduce the risk of Russia escalating the war."
To the West, destruction of Ukraine with wholesale slaughter of Ukrainians apparently does not amount to "escalaton".
No comments:
Post a Comment