Tag: demilitarization

NATO majors float Ukraine negotiations plan – WSJ

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

UK, France and Germany reportedly offered weapons and security commitments as a way of starting talks with Russia

NATO majors float Ukraine negotiations plan – WSJ

Related:

WSJ: NATO’s Biggest European Members Float Defense Pact With Ukraine

In theory, any NATO member could veto the proposal from the U.K., France and Germany, but the organization operates on consensus and such an initiative wouldn’t even be discussed at a summit without enjoying widespread support in the alliance.

U.S. and NATO scramble to arm Ukraine and refill their own arsenals

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Either this narrative about weapon stockpiles, being depleted, is part of the information war or Russia is demilitarizing NATO!?!

U.S. and NATO scramble to arm Ukraine and refill their own arsenals

In Ukraine, the kind of European war thought inconceivable is chewing up the modest stockpiles of artillery, ammunition and air defenses of what some in NATO call Europe’s “bonsai armies,” after the tiny Japanese trees. Even the mighty United States has only limited stocks of the weapons the Ukrainians want and need, and Washington is unwilling to divert key weapons from delicate regions like Taiwan and Korea, where China and North Korea are constantly testing the limits.

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So the West is scrambling to find increasingly scarce Soviet-era equipment and ammunition that Ukraine can use now, including S-300 air defense missiles, T-72 tanks and especially Soviet-caliber artillery shells

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There are even discussions about NATO investing in old factories in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria to restart the manufacturing of Soviet-caliber 152-mm and 122-mm shells for Ukraine’s still largely Soviet-era artillery armory.

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The European Union has approved €3.1 billion ($3.2 billion) to repay member states for what they provide to Ukraine, but that fund, the [ironically-named] European Peace Facility, is nearly 90 percent depleted.

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Smaller countries have exhausted their potential, another NATO official said, with 20 of its 30 members “pretty tapped out.” But the remaining 10 can still provide more, he suggested, especially larger allies. That would include France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has advised the alliance — including, pointedly, Germany — that NATO guidelines requiring members to keep stockpiles should not be a pretext to limit arms exports to Ukraine. But it is also true that Germany and France, like the United States, want to calibrate the weapons Ukraine gets, to prevent escalation and direct attacks on Russia.

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Washington is also looking at older, cheaper alternatives like giving Ukraine anti-tank TOW missiles, which are in plentiful supply, instead of Javelins, and Hawk surface-to-air missiles instead of newer versions. But officials are increasingly pushing Ukraine to be more efficient and not, for example, fire a missile that costs $150,000 at a drone that costs $20,000.

Russia Continues Grinding Away Ukrainian Military & Electrical Power

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Update on Russian military operations in Ukraine for November 21, 2022

– Russian makes incremental gains in the Donbass region;

– Ukraine’s power grid continues to degrade under Russian missile and drone strikes;

– Ukraine continues denying responsibility for missile strike in Poland;

– US claims NASAMS air defense systems performed at 100% effectiveness, provide no numbers or proof of this claim;

– There are not enough NASAMS arriving in Ukraine over the next several years to protect Ukraine from further Russian missile and drone salvos;

– Ukraine has more or less abandoned Kherson city;

– US DoD admits Ukraine cannot achieve its main objective of expelling Russia;

– Failure to achieve Ukraine’s objective while continuing to fight and lose men and equipment equates to demilitarization;

References:

Russia Continues Grinding Away Ukrainian Military & Electrical Power (Odysee)

Russia’s De-militarization of Ukraine Continues – US Sending Decades-Old Arms to Kiev

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Update on Russian military operations in and around Ukraine for November 11, 2022.

– Russia completes withdrawal from Kherson city to east bank of the Dnieper River;

– Ukraine has lost its last major opportunity to corner and destroy/capture large numbers of Russian forces/equipment;

– Russia continues stated process of de-militarizing Ukraine; – US aid to Ukraine becomes increasingly unrealistic

– Hawk missiles designed in the 1960s and unused for 2 decades are being “refurbished” for a lack of better options;

– “Avenger” systems to be sent in small numbers (4) which are essentially Stinger missiles attached to a Hummer

– after training for Ukrainian operators is completed;

– Dwindling amounts of basic ammunition continue to be sent to Ukraine, prolonging the conflict, but not in quantities to even allow Ukraine to hold what it has;

– As Russian forces withdrew from Kherson city, they advanced elsewhere in southern and northern Donbass.

References:

Russia’s De-militarization of Ukraine Continues – US Sending Decades-Old Arms to Kiev (Odysee) via The New Atlas