New Delhi: Ukraine is becoming weaponised and militarized like never before with the US - in a significant escalation of its involvement in the Ukraine conflict-deciding not just to rush in heavy weapons to the war-ravaged country but also to train Ukrainian military personnel in operating the weapons and systems. But what is interesting is that there are many weapons in the latest tranche that the US will fly into Ukraine for the first time.
The new weapons - part of a $800 million arms package - include 18 155mm Howitzers, 40,000 artillery rounds, unmanned coastal defence vessels, 10 AN/TPQ-36 counter artillery radars, two AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel air surveillance systems, 500 Javelin missiles, anti-armour systems, 300 Switchblade drones, 200 M113 Armoured Personnel Carriers, 100 Armoured High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles and 11 Mi-17 helicopters.
The 11 Mi-17 helicopters were previously earmarked to be sent to Afghanistan and would add to the five already with the Ukraine military. The US had bought 30 medium-lift and attack Mi-17 helicopters from Russia in 2013 for use in Afghanistan as these helicopters had shown very good performance in the hot weather and high altitude areas of Afghanistan.
The latest cache of weapons and systems will also include body armour, optics and laser range finders, explosives, and protective equipment against chemical, biological and nuclear attacks. According to Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby, a select group of Ukrainian soldiers will soon leave the war zone “to learn from US military instructors, and then train other Ukrainian troops once they return to the fight”. Kirby said on Wednesday that the training might happen in “multiple locations” although it wasn’t clear where.
The latest US arsenal is aimed at equipping a Ukrainian military to counter and stall a widely-expected Russian military offensive from the east and southeast where the Russians are currently mobilising. Deftly skirting around a query asking if the latest development can be interpreted by the Russian as an escalatory move by the US, Kirby said: “How that gets interpreted by the Russians, you can ask Mr. Putin and the Kremlin. What we're concerned about is making sure that we are doing what we said we were going to do…”
“We committed from the very beginning, even before the invasion, to helping Ukraine be able to defend itself. This is a piece of that, and this is representative of the kinds of capabilities that the Ukrainians themselves have asked for and said they need as this fighting now gets focused on the eastern part of the country.” Till now, the Biden administration has committed more than $3.2 billion in military assistance to Ukraine with about $2.6 billion dollars announced in aid since February 24 -the day the Russian military moved into Ukraine.
