Published June 20, 2022 2:01am EDT
Some European allies may waver as they hold
out hope for peace talks to end the war
House Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing on Terrorism UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 18 - Ret. Gen. Jack Keane, Chairman of the Board of the Institute for the Study of War, listens during a House Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs Committee joint hearing on "on examining the rise of radicalism, growing terrorist sanctuaries, and the threat to the U.S. homeland," on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Wednesday, November 18, 2015. (Photo By Al Drago/CQ Roll Call)
The U.S. continues to pledge
and ship weapons to help
Ukraine defend its territory, but delays that keep those
weapons from reaching the front lines quickly have handed Russia an advantage
as it seeks to capture the Donbas region.
Gen.
Jack Keane, head of the Institute for the Study of War, stressed that Ukraine
is at a "tipping point" and requires more weapons in order to push
back against the Russian advantage.
"[The Russians] have the advantage because of the number of guns they have in the ranges that they have," Keane said during an appearance on "Fox & Friends." "The Ukrainians have the skill, they've got the will, they've got the number of people to do it. What they need is the weapons to do it."
President Biden in the past month announced two tranches of
weapons and aid for Ukraine: The latest $1.2 billion package includes artillery, coastal defense
weapons, ammunition and advanced rocket systems. A good portion of those
weapons come from Defense Department inventories, meaning the department will
announce packages before they have located, inspected and shipped the arms.
Analysts broadly thought that Russian President Vladimir
Putin only aimed to
capture the Donbas region, but Russian forces tried to take Kyiv and other
major cities in a single, decisive blitz. The invasion struggled as the Russian
military faced a number of setbacks, including significant logistics
issues.
But now that Russia
shifted its objectives and has focused only on securing the Donbas region, it
has improved its capability to wage war, with faster supply lines and better range
for its heavy weapons. A former defense official told Fox News Digital that
some reports indicate that "the weapons are not getting to the Ukrainians
quick enough."
"It seems the right weapons are just not getting there in time, and turning what could have been a clear victory for Ukraine into a Russian advantage - a fumble on the 10-yard line by the West," the official said.
Defense officials noted it would take "several" months for those weapons to reach the Ukrainian
forces – specifically, the Harpoon missile system, which will require weeks to
transfer the weapons and train the troops in their use.
"The truck-mounted Harpoon, in this condition, in this configuration, is new, right?" a defense official told reporters on June 15. "And so that’s why it’s taking a little bit of time to pull the systems together for full operational capability."
Ukrainian forces say they need
more weapons than their
allies are sending them. The U.S. has pledged to continue coordinating with
Ukrainian partners to ensure that aid continues to reach the front lines, but
could not comment on the specific timelines.
"We are in
constant communication with our Ukrainian counterparts discussing the evolving
situation and their critical requirements," Lieutenant Colonel Anton T.
Semelroth, Department of Defense Spokesman, told Fox News Digital.
"This coordination and our support for Ukraine will continue."
Ukraine has also
grappled with hesitation from its European allies regarding the delivery of
lethal aid. Some European leaders – primarily Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany
and President Emmanuel Macron of France - have pushed for Russia and Ukraine to
end the war through peace talks rather than conflict.
Germany, which initially delayed the delivery of lethal aid to Ukraine until two months into the invasion, has lagged significantly behind Ukraine’s other allies in delivering any of its aid: Data from German think tank The Kiel Institute indicates Germany lags behind most allies, both in terms of the amount of aid promised and the amount actually delivered – amounting to roughly 35% of its total commitment.
"You can see the
breaking in the ranks in the Europeans," Keane told John Roberts during an
appearance on "America Reports." "You've got the U.K., the
Baltics and Poland all in on Zelensky's side, which is drive the Russians out
of my territory."
"You've got the
French and the Germans - they're not there," he continued. "Where
they are is they want a cease-fire: Go to negotiations as quickly as possible,
end this thing as soon as possible … any kind of stalemate like that favors the
Russians rather dramatically."
Keane also admitted that the U.S. might favor the peace talk approach, saying, "the United States, I think, was strongly in a little bit of both of that, to be frank about it."
That indecision and
divisiveness in target and commitment is something that Russia will look to
exploit as it presses its advantage to secure the Donbas region while the
Ukrainians fight with depleting resources and inferior weapons.
"Russia is
acutely aware of the lack of cohesion within NATO and among European
governments regarding how far the West should go to support Ukraine,"
Rebekah Koffler, president of Doctrine & Strategy Consulting, a former DIA
intelligence officer, told Fox News Digital. "Moscow has been trying to
fracture NATO and deepen the split between Old Europe and New Europe for years
by running covert intelligence operations and waging disinformation
warfare."
Morgan Ortagus, a
former State Department Spokesperson, argued that it is not a matter of timing
but of the "right" weapons reaching the Ukrainians.
"The dire straits
Ukraine's fighters find themselves in are not so much about delays in
delivering the arms we've agreed to send - it's more that those arms aren't
sufficient to tip the balance on the battlefield," Ortagus told Fox News
Digital. "Unfortunately we, and none more than the Ukrainians, are
learning how costly it can be when we fail to deter war."
Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with a focus on
national and global news.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/ukraine-russia-war-delay-weapons-putin-donbas
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