The message to U.S. lawmakers of Ukraine’s first lady, delivered amid raw images and graphics of civilian bloodshed, could not have been clearer: after nearly five full months since Russia launched its invasion , Olena Zelenska said her country needs more Western weapons.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent her to Washington to appeal directly to the U.S. Congress for air defense systems.
This Wednesday’s appeal came when Russia suggested it planned to occupy wider areas beyond the eastern Ukrainian industrial region known as the Donbas, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov , stressed that Moscow also claims the Kherson region and part of Zaporizhzhia and that it will expand “continuously and persistently.” their earnings elsewhere.
The billions of dollars in Western military assistance have been crucial to Ukraine’s efforts to defend Russian attacks, but Kyiv officials say the figures are still too small to change the course of the war.
A look at what Ukraine has received so far:
LLAnçacoets HIMARS
US-supplied HIMARS systems and similar British M270s have significantly enhanced the Ukrainian army’s precision attack capability.
The HIMARS and M270 have a longer range, much better accuracy, and faster firing speed compared to the Soviet-designed Smerch, Hurricane, and Tornado multiple rocket launchers used by both Russia and Ukraine.
Truck-mounted HIMARS launchers fire GPS-guided missiles capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 80 kilometers (50 miles), a distance that puts them out of reach of most Russian artillery systems. Mobile launchers are difficult to detect for the enemy and can quickly change position after firing to escape air strikes.
The Ukrainian army has so far received a dozen HIMARS and several M270 systems, but has already used them to successfully target Russian ammunition and fuel depots in eastern Ukraine, essential to support the offensive. Moscow. On Wednesday, Ukrainian forces used HIMARS to strike a strategic bridge in the Russian-occupied southern Kherson region.
“HIMARS has hardly rested day or night. Its potential has been fully exploited, “Ukrainian military expert Oleh Zhdanov told The Associated Press.” The results have been impressive. More than 30 major Russian targets have been hit with high precision over the past two weeks. “
U.S. authorities have so far refrained from providing Ukraine with more powerful missiles for HIMARS launchers that can hit targets of up to 300 kilometers (186 miles), allowing the military to hit deep areas of Russian territory.
HEAVY ARTILLERY
Ukraine has received deliveries of more than 200 heavy artillery systems from the US and its NATO allies. It includes the US M777, the French CAESAR, the German PzH 2000 and some other towed and self-propelled long-range artillery systems.
Western shells have some advantages over the old systems designed by the Soviets in Russian and Ukrainian arsenals, but Ukrainian crews need time to learn how to operate them. Its wide range poses obvious logistical challenges.
“Ukraine has received a huge amount … of very diverse artillery equipment,” said Michael Kofman, a Russian military expert and program director for the Virginia-based think tank CNA. “What they’ve finished is an artillery zoo, and it’s very difficult to do maintenance, upkeep and logistics.”
A more serious problem is that the number of Western weapons is still too small.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said last month that the country needs at least 1,000 heavy shells, 300 multiple rocket launchers, 500 tanks and 2,000 armored vehicles, far more than the West has provided.
“Western weapons are superior to those of the Soviet era, but the numbers have been too small to change the course of the war,” Zhdanov said.
ARMOR
Ukraine has called on the West for more armor to make up for its heavy losses on the battlefield. The country has reportedly received more than 300 Soviet-built T-72 tanks from Poland and the Czech Republic, and has already used them in combat.
However, the much-promised delivery of German Leopard tanks is on hold, a delay that has sparked an angry response on Ukrainian media and social media.
Ukraine has received several hundred armored personnel carriers from the U.S. and a few NATO allies, a varied collection of vehicles that has not fully offset what it has already lost.
Western allies have also provided Ukraine with a large number of portable anti-tank weapons, which played a key role in helping Ukrainian soldiers decimate Russian armored convoys.
DRONS
In the first part of the war, Ukraine made extensive use of its inventory of Turkish-made Bayraktar TB-2 laser-guided bomb launch drones to strike long convoys of Russian troops and supply columns. The Bayraktars, however, have become less effective in the face of denser Russian air and electronic defenses in eastern Ukraine.
Since the war began, the United States and Western allies have sent hundreds of other drones, including an unspecified number of Switchblade 600 “kamikazes” carrying warheads that pierce tanks and use artificial intelligence to track targets. But their range is limited and they can only stay high for about 40 minutes.
Ukraine has strongly pushed for more advanced long-range drones that can survive radio interference and GPS jams and that rely on satellite communications for control and navigation.
AIR DEFENSE SYSTEMS
The US and other NATO allies have provided Ukraine with more than 2,000 portable air defense missile systems, or MANPADS, such as Stingers and other similar weapons.
These compact systems are efficient against fighter helicopters and low-flying aircraft, and the Ukrainian army has used them to inflict heavy losses on the Russian air force, restricting its ability to provide close air support to ground forces and helping to slow down. the pace of the Moscow offensive. .
At the same time, Ukraine has also pushed the West to supply it with medium- and long-range air defense systems capable of shooting down cruise missiles and high-flying aircraft.
It has received several long-range S-300 air defense systems of Soviet construction from Slovakia, the type of weapons that the Ukrainian army has been using for a long time.
The United States has also pledged to give Ukraine two mid-range NASAMS air defense systems.
Germany has promised to supply Ukraine with 30 self-propelled Gepard anti-aircraft guns, but they have yet to arrive.
WAR PLANES
Since the start of the invasion on February 24, Ukraine has urged Western allies to provide it with warplanes to challenge Russia’s air superiority.
However, the US and its allies have been reluctant to give Ukraine the fighter jets it is asking for, for fear of provoking an escalating response from Moscow, which has warned NATO that supplying fighter jets to Ukraine could be tantamount. to join the conflict.
In March, the Pentagon rejected Poland’s proposal to deliver its Soviet-built MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine by transferring them through a U.S. base in Germany, citing a high risk of triggering an escalation between Russia and NATO. Ukraine has its own fleet of MiG-29s, but it is unclear how many of these and other aircraft are still in service.
Earlier this month, Slovakia announced its intention to deliver its MiG-29 fleet to Ukraine while awaiting delivery of US F-16 refueling aircraft, but no action has been taken.
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