New Cold War Rockets & Grenade Launchers

Anti-tank missilesAnd grenade launcherAnd Ammo… United State Freight increased military equipment a Ukraine against a possible attack Russia, in a situation that evokes cold War And where American and Russian soldiers are unlikely to see each other.

Tension escalates between the two forces due to the concentration of Russian soldiers, about 100 thousand, on the border with Ukraine.

Faced with this situation, the help Army From Washington to Kiev, the flow hasn’t stopped: In December, President Joe Biden authorized the delivery of $200 million to respond to “immediate security needs.”

Lieutenant-Colonel in the Marine Corps Anton T Semmelroth, a spokesperson for PentagonHe explained to Efe that this package includes Javelin missiles, grenade launchers, and ammunition, as well as “basic, non-lethal equipment for the first line of defense.” Ukraine“.

In recent days, the embassy American in a Kiev realized in Twitter From the arrival of those provisions: Only on January 25th, EE.UU. Delivery of the third batch of military aid to Ukraine, 90 tons with 300 Javelin projectiles; It will not be the last.

Spokesman county administration Set for Efe that, apart from Anti-armor weaponsThis week, the Ukrainian authorities sent 283 tons of ammunition and basic non-lethal equipment.

Military assistance is nothing new, since 2014 — when Russia occupied Crimea — Washington has committed more than $2.7 billion in security aid to Ukraine, including more than $650 million in 2021 alone.

The US State Department specifies that this support includes items such as Humvees SUVs, drones, communications equipment, satellite image analysis support, radars, night vision devices, sniper rifles, and more.

Thus, Ukrainian forces today are not the same as they were ten years ago, the director of foreign policy research at the Brookings Institution told Efe, Michael O’Hanlon.

Although there is no high technology like countries OTANWith more than 200,000 soldiers, Ukrainian forces have a size equal to or greater than that of Western European countries, such as Spain, Italy, France or the United Kingdom.

O’Hanlon noted that Ukraine also has anti-tank weapons, including those supplied by the United States and other countries, which “might make it really difficult for Russia to move quickly on the roads.”

Added to the equipment directly sent by Washington are American weapons that have recently been approved for transfer to Ukraine by the State Department from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Specifically, Estonia sent Javelin missiles, while Lithuania and Latvia sent Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to bolster Ukraine’s defenses.

In the opinion of the deputy director of the Eurasia Center for Ideas Atlantic CouncilMelinda Haring, Military assistance to Kiev could make a “big” difference if the United States was “creative and smart”.

“President Biden said he doesn’t want soldiers on the ground, a lot of people have focused on that, but we need to focus on what wasn’t said. The expert explained that (Biden) did not rule out the use of ships and planes,” which he believes, along with sanctions It may deter Russia from attacking Ukraine.

Currently, the United States has puthigh alert8,500 troops for a possible deployment to the Allied countries in Eastern Europe, although he assured that he would not send troops to Ukrainian territory.

Aside from materials and soldiers, O’Hanlon cited a deterrent factor for Russia with historical memories: the cold.

Soon it will be February and then March. March is not the time to operate tanks in Ukraine. “February is not good either, because even if the ground freezes, there can be snow, making it difficult for vehicles with wheels to move,” said the analyst, who remembers the Nazi defeat at the hands of the former Soviet Union.

Preparations for a possible conflict are being made without the West really having a “clear idea” of why the Kremlin created this crisis and what it will do.

This is how a thinking group expert sees it Rand William Courtney, the former US ambassador to Kazakhstan and Georgia, and exasistente Presidential special for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia.

Ukraine is not about to enter OTANnor in European Union. I think one possibility is that peaceful demonstrations in Belarus two years ago frightened the Kremlin,” Mirror Courtney, who told Effie that the Russian president, Russian President Vladimir PutinI might be afraid of losing Ukraine s Belarus in favor of the West.

Under the current scenario, all options are possible, the former diplomat has since warned Russia It can launch a large invasion, a smaller one, or maybe “nothing”.

At this point, the expert noted that it is difficult for diplomacy to solve something.

“I think that Kremlin He has to make a decision: either he retire or he goes to war,” he said. Courtney, Who thinks that there is no room for negotiation because Moscow has launched some proposals for West “Unreasonable”, moreover, has been published.

Susanna Samhan