Will Putin Now Nuke Prague? Ho hum with more baby Putin whines as Eastern Europe helps Ukraine prepare for tank war in Dombass
The two articles represent a turning point of some sort emerging in the Ukraine-Russia war with the capper being the DEMAND being included in the 2nd article as to a ban on the Czech Republic in transferring USSR technology /weapons to Ukraine.
Enjoy
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/04/15/tanks-heavy-weapons-ukraine-russia-nato-putin-offensive/
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The West Finally Starts Rolling Out the Big Guns for Ukraine
Some Ukrainians fear it could be too little, too late.
By?Robbie Gramer ,?Jack Detsch , and?Amy Mackinnon ?FP subscribers can now receive alerts when new stories written by these authors are published.?Subscribe now ?|?Sign in
Ukrainian tanks prepare for an attack against Russian forces
Ukrainian tanks prepare for an attack against Russian forces in the Luhansk region of Ukraine on Feb. 26.?ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
APRIL 15, 2022, 12:07 PM
The United States and its NATO allies have ramped up the delivery of tanks, helicopters, and heavy weapons to Ukraine as the country’s forces prepare for large-scale battles against Russian troops in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
The new arms deliveries represent a stark shift from Western support for Ukraine in the earliest days of the war, when U.S. and European officials, unsure of how long Ukraine could hold out against a massive Russian invasion, were wary of delivering heavy weapons that could in turn fall into Russian hands. The deliveries also reflect a shift away from defensive systems like anti-tank rockets to more offensive weapons that Ukraine needs at a critical stage of the war.
The Czech Republic opened the floodgates earlier this month by shipping tanks to Ukraine, becoming the first NATO country to do so since Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24. The Czech Republic has also sent Ukraine infantry fighting vehicles and artillery systems.
Other NATO countries have followed suit with their own shipments of high-end military hardware across NATO borders into Ukraine. Slovakia sent Ukraine an advanced S-300 air defense system, and the United States on Wednesday announced it would supply Ukraine with an additional $800 million worth of military hardware. That shipment includes 11 MI-17 helicopters, 200 M113 armored personnel carriers, 100 Humvees, 300 Switchblade “kamikaze” drones, heavy howitzers, thousands of shells, and other munitions.
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During the first phase of the war, many Western officials believed Kyiv could quickly fall to Russian forces in a matter of days, prompting them to balk on sending heavy weapons to a government they were unsure could survive.
That all changed after Russia’s massive offensive in northern Ukraine ran aground, thanks to stiff Ukrainian resistance backed by Western supplies of anti-tank weapons and other small arms, as well as clumsy tactical missteps by the poorly equipped Russian forces.
The transfer of heavy weapons to Ukraine is far from simple. In addition to the heavy vehicles and weapons themselves, any such transfers to Ukraine require a potentially long logistical tail to back up, including training, spare parts, and mechanics to keep the vehicles operating in the war zone. (Russia has threatened to attack U.S. and NATO weapons deliveries headed into Ukraine.)
“The tank is not just a rental car,” said Ben Hodges, former commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe. “Whenever you’re talking about transferring any sort of mechanized or armored vehicles, you have to also think about spare parts, maintenance packages, training, fuel, ammunition … to make sure they can keep things running.”
Nevertheless, a senior U.S. defense official said on Monday that several allied nations were still considering delivering tanks to Ukraine, mostly Soviet-era variants that troops in Kyiv had already been trained on. “This is equipment that Ukrainians probably are already familiar with, so the time to train on it would be relatively quick,” Hodges said.
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The logistical complications have prompted some Western governments to withhold delivering larger supplies of heavy vehicles to Ukraine, despite pleas from top Ukrainian officials for more support for their outgunned and outmanned forces.
Others, particularly some politicians in Germany, fear that upgrading Ukraine’s military with heavy weapons could turn the West into a target for further Russian aggression. That debate has reportedly?sparked rifts ?within the ruling coalition in Germany.
A top German arms manufacturer, Rheinmetall, said earlier this week it stood ready to supply?up to 50 used Leopard 1 battle tanks ?to Ukraine, but the German government has yet to greenlight the arms transfer. Some German officials have balked at the idea, believing it would take too long to train the Ukrainians, who are versed in post-Soviet weapons systems common in Eastern Europe, on the Western-made battle tanks. Rheinmetall’s chief executive, Armin Papperger, disputed this argument, saying they could be trained in a matter of days.
In the eyes of Ukrainians, the new spate of Western arms transfers is a welcome shift but still not enough. Current and former Ukrainian officials said the West can still do more to arm the country ahead of what is expected to be a decisive new chapter in the war.
“Without additional weaponry, this war will become an endless bloodbath, spreading misery, suffering, and destruction,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky?tweeted ?on Wednesday, listing out cities where Russian forces committed atrocities against civilians during their military offensive. “Mariupol, Bucha, Kramatorsk – the list will be continued. Nobody will stop Russia except Ukraine with Heavy Weapons.”
Ukrainian officials and government accounts have begun using the hashtag #ArmUkraineNow on social media as they call for further deliveries of heavy weaponry.
Olena Tregub, head of Ukraine’s Independent Defense Anti-Corruption Committee, said new deliveries from the West aren’t sufficient to give Ukraine the upper hand in its fight against numerically superior Russian forces. “Ukraine is being put on an IV drip to slowly die,” she said.
Still, U.S. and European officials say the new transfers signify that Washington and other European allies are now preparing to help Ukraine not just survive the Russian onslaught, but begin taking the offensive. They say the heavy weapons transfers could prove critical to Ukraine’s military success, even if Ukraine thinks the inflows are insufficient.
“Western Europe does everything they can to support Ukraine to win this war and this support is only growing in terms of quantity as well as quality,” Arvydas Anusauskas, Lithuania’s defense minister, told?Foreign Policy.
Ukraine’s growing appetite for tanks—and the push from Western officials to send more of them—is also being driven by the flatter battlefield in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, where tanks are easier to maneuver.
“Large chunks of eastern Ukraine are what’s called tank country, flat open ground ideally suited for mechanized warfare,” said Franz-Stefan Gady, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank. “That is why Ukraine needs main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, mid-range air defense systems, loitering munitions, etc., to stay in this fight, to battle Russian forces to a standstill, and eventually counterattack when opportune,” he said. “The key challenge for Ukrainian forces will be how to conduct large-scale combined arms operations in the face of superior Russian firepower.”
The United States began checking off some boxes on the extensive Ukrainian wish list in its newest arms delivery to Ukraine. A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity based on ground rules set by the Pentagon, said that plans are underway for Ukrainian trainers to travel into NATO countries in Eastern Europe to be trained on how to use the new systems—such as the howitzers and counter-battery radars.
Washington has also become a critical backstop for rearming NATO allies in Europe as they in turn transfer their own supplies to Ukraine. After Slovakia sent its S-300 air defense system to Ukraine, the United States deployed one of its Patriot missile defense systems to Slovakia to fill the gap. The United States also signed a major arms deal with Poland earlier this month to supply the Polish military with 250 Abrams battle tanks, potentially freeing up Poland to send some of its tanks to Ukraine—though no such decision has been announced.
Some experts argue the United States should go further and support NATO allies such as Poland transferring MiG fighter jets to Ukraine by offering to restock their air forces with older F-16 fighter jets—a transfer that some allies have balked at, and one that could be complicated when training and logistics are factored in. (Slovakia is also reportedly considering?transferring ?its fleet of MiGs to Ukraine.)
Hodges argued that concerns among some Western countries that such military support could trigger a wider NATO conflict with Russia are overblown, and Washington needs to ramp up its weapons transfers to Ukraine further.
“We have exaggerated the risk, and the Russians know this,” he said. “We have the most powerful alliance in the history of the world scared to provide 25-year-old aircraft to a country that’s fighting for its life.”
“If we are the arsenal of democracy, then let’s be the arsenal of democracy and open the doors and push everything out that [Ukrainians] possibly need,” he added.
The debate comes at a critical point in the war, when Russia is regrouping after retreating from the outskirts of Kyiv and Ukrainian forces are cobbling together as much firepower as they can to face a new battle for control of eastern Ukraine. Pentagon officials say Russia is positioning artillery units south of the city of Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, and a publicly released British Defence Intelligence report earlier this week predicted that the Kremlin would ramp up airstrikes against major population centers in the Donbas such as Kramatorsk, a major railway hub, where a Russian ballistic missile strike last week killed 59 people.
“Ukraine could be more vulnerable to heavy artillery in the Donbas considering it’s more open if they try to contest generally instead of trying to force the Russians to fight in towns and cities,” said Phillips O’Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews. “Personally I would start with anti-air and UAVs to give Ukraine the best shot at air power. Long-range artillery tools could also be very useful.”
The increasing flow of Western weapons could make it harder for Russia to sustain an offensive in eastern Ukraine. Western officials?believe ?the Kremlin is hungry to notch a significant battlefield win for their forces ahead of May 9, a major holiday to commemorate Russia’s World War II victory over Nazi Germany. Experts believe that Russia will now be challenged by a lack of supporting infantry and a slowing advance in the Donbas, after the massive losses it sustained in the first month of the war.
“For certain, the offensive can’t go on forever,” said Gady, the International Institute for Strategic Studies expert. “My guess is that Russia will not have the ability to take this fight into June. So something will have to give.”
Robbie Gramer?is a diplomacy and national security reporter at?Foreign Policy.?Twitter:?@RobbieGramer
Jack Detsch?is?Foreign Policy’s Pentagon and national security reporter.?Twitter:?@JackDetsch
Amy Mackinnon?is a national security?and intelligence reporter at?Foreign Policy.?Twitter:?@ak_mack
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Whereas the inevitable Russian complaint went to you guessed it:
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https://www.expats.cz/czech-news/article/russia-warns-czech-republic-against-supplying-ukraine-with-soviet-made-weapons
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Russia warns Czechia against supplying Ukraine with weapons of Soviet origin
As the Czech Republic continues to arm Ukraine, Russia has told the country that it cannot transfer Soviet-made weapons without its consent.
Written by
Published on 16.04.2022 14:23?(updated on 16.04.2022)Reading time: 2 minutes
Soviet T-72 tanks. Photo: iStock / SergeyKlopotov
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Through a diplomatic letter, Russia has warned the Czech Republic against supplying other countries with weapons of Soviet origin without its consent, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told journalists this afternoon.
Lipavsky called the Russian demand "nonsense," and said the Czech Foreign Ministry would not react to it. There is no clause banning re-export of weapons from the former Soviet Union, he added.
Earlier this week, Russia officially warned the United States and other countries that supporting Ukraine with military aid would prolong the conflict and could cause "unforeseeable consequences."
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Friday that Moscow had sent similar warnings regarding sending weapons to Ukraine to "all countries," presumably meaning all NATO members. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999.
Lipavsky said the diplomatic letter sent by Russia was another method of trying to halt Czech support for Ukraine through false information. Military and other aid for Ukraine is unambiguously in the Czech Republic's strategic interest, he added.
"In early March, the Russian ambassador announced to a Czech deputy foreign minister that Russia was expecting terrorist attacks against convoys carrying Western weapons in Ukraine," Lipavsky said.
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"We interpret this as a clear threat that Russia itself was and is preparing sabotage. The Russian side has further announced that it will be unable to prevent this sabotage, which we understand as another in a series of threats sent by Russia."
"Russia was passing similar messages to our allies from the EU and NATO," Lipavsky added, noting that since the start of the war, Russia has been trying to deter EU and NATO countries from providing aid to Ukraine.
Over the past seven weeks, the Czech Republic has provided Ukraine with weapons, tanks, armored vehicles, and other military aid.
As of April 6, the total value of military aid donated to Ukraine was estimated to be worth 1.1 billion crowns. The Czech Defence Ministry has not specified the exact type or amount of material for security reasons.
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Last week,?Reuters reported ?that the Czech Republic sent Soviet-licensed T-72 tanks and Czechoslovak-made BMP-1 armored vehicles to Ukraine.?According to local server Echo24 , the country has also supplied Ukraine with Czechoslovak RM70 multiple rocket launchers.
The BMP-1 vehicles were previously owned by Germany. A clause in the contract transferring their ownership to the Czech Republic required German permission if sending them to another country,?which was granted .
According to Lipavsky, however, no such agreement exists between the Czech Republic and Russia for weapons produced by or licensed from the former Soviet Union.
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I am certain that this is not just the beginning of more PUTIN crying, it is also indicative of the threats he is making against Finland, while the US Far Right now fantasizes on the destruction of NATO 2025, by DECREE. Wow, are we not being gaslighted yet ? The thing is that there was/is NO LEGAL basis for the demand that Czech Republic HALT USSR weapons transfers as there is no such agreement existing between the Czech Republic and Russia for weapons produced by or licensed from the former Soviet Union. Meanwhile with this showboating going ON, weapon deliveries, i.e. TANKS are being sent to KIEV for the Dombass/southern Ukraine battle ground.
The gas lighting will ramp up exponentially in the next month. Buckle up. Mean while yours truly mainly me is enjoying a bit of R and R (rest and recreation) after nearly getting killed the day before Good Friday by a TRUCK running a red light. One cannot make this sort of thing up.
For the record the day before Good Friday, I was nearly killed in a freak accident, involving a TRUCK running a red light. That weird accident motivated me to make the last two articles leading up to Easter Sunday. That is whom nearly bought it, ME.
All in all quite the Easter Sunday, that is if you care about such things. Enjoy the articles.
Andrew Beckwith, PhD