The announcement that the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, was suspending all his trips abroad in the coming days served this Wednesday to increase Washington’s concern about the progress of the war in that country and the exhaustion of Ukrainian forces. Russian troops entered a Ukrainian border town, in the Kharkiv region, at the same time that Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, ended his two-day visit to kyiv, in which he addressed the most pressing needs of the allied country in the face of the offensive of an emboldened Russia.
A month after the United States Congress approved more than $60 billion (about €55 billion) for Ukraine after months of delays, concern is growing in Washington about the progress Russia has made in the war. and the problems of shortage of soldiers and weapons that plague the Ukrainian forces. Joe Biden’s Administration is studying ways to accelerate the delivery of weapons and replace spent ammunition and equipment destroyed during the almost half-year hiatus in which aid shipments were almost non-existent.
“Russia has continued to push the brutal intensity of its campaign and is seeking more targets across a larger area of Ukraine,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stressed this week at a press conference. “That is why the United States and our coalition are looking to accelerate more air defense… we want to send more and the president (Joe Biden), Secretary (of Defense, Lloyd) Austin and I are working day and night to coordinate those deliveries and put Ukraine in a position where it is in the best position to defend itself against what Russia is throwing at them, which is quite considerable.”
Before his departure from kyiv, Blinken confirmed that the United States is examining how to send additional air defense systems to Ukrainian forces, including Patriot missiles. Systems are especially necessary in the Kharkiv area – the country’s second city – where, since last week, Russia has opened a new front to force Ukraine to divide its resources even further. Much of his conversations during his surprise visit have focused almost obsessively on the supply of that type of equipment.
“We are intensely focused on the Patriot and other possible defenses, and on making sure that we can find (those available equipment) and bring them to Ukraine,” explained the head of US diplomacy. “Kharkov, of course, is an urgent priority. There are others.”
Ukraine has requested at least two Patriot missile batteries, costing approximately $1 billion (€920 million) each, for Kharkiv. The United States, which in 2022 announced that it would send one of these systems to the invaded country, is considering sending another, according to the Bloomberg agency, and is contacting its allies to increase that supply. Germany promised to send one of those teams last month.
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A Patriot system includes radars and control stations to identify, track and engage enemy weaponry, including launch vehicles and support vehicles, with missiles.
On Tuesday, in a speech in the Ukrainian capital, Blinken had assured that the “Patriot and other air defense systems do more than protect soldiers and save civilian lives.” “They also create protective shields under which Ukrainian workers and entrepreneurs can adapt, innovate, build and attract more foreign investment,” he explained, “which is why we work tirelessly with our partners and allies to get more air defenses, and do it quickly.” .
The US Government has indicated that part of the aid approved in April is already reaching Ukraine. Among the equipment that has already received the approval are long-range ATACMS missiles, capable of hitting a Russian target anywhere in Ukraine.
According to Washington’s assessment, the intensification of the Russian offensive is due precisely to Moscow’s desire to achieve the maximum possible advantage before the flow of weapons from the United States recovers the pace of the first 18 months of the war.
“We are doing everything we can to accelerate assistance,” Blinken stressed before his trip, which he acknowledged on Sunday in the program Face the Nation of the CBS television network that “there is no doubt that the long delays in the transfer of weapons have had a cost.”
These delays have allowed Russia to gain a wide advantage in the availability of ammunition and artillery. The shortage of anti-aircraft systems in the Ukrainian ranks has also made it possible for the Kremlin forces to launch air strikes against positions further into the invaded country, without receiving major damage.
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