Politico is out with a piece that gives a clear picture of the limits on American weapons deliveries ….
While President Biden IS giving a weekly donations of money and waepons to the Ukraine in it’s fight against the Russians?
He’s been VERY …VERY nervous about arming the Ukraine….
(He KNOWS once the allows the Ukraine those HEAVY weapons?…Other former Soviet Union countries would want the same…Biden IS sensitive to worries the Rissian President might have with a militarily stronger East Europe…)
After nonstop pressure from the Ukraine President Zelensky and images of things in the Ukraine?
Biden Ok’d artillery weapons and shells….
That graduated to other missle systems with longer range….
When the request came for fighter jets a month or two in from other countries?
Biden let it be known he was against that…
The Ukrainian’s have been resourceful with old Soviet weapons they had and sent to them from old Soviet Union countries that have left the fold for the West….
The stuff sent so far with gaming help from the West HAS helped the Ukraine military defeat the Russian’s in cities and launch counterattacks recently….
But?
They just have gone quiet….
The Ukraine STILL wants HEAVY US weapons like US F-16 and A-10 Jet Fighters, Patriot air defence systems, and US Gray Eagle offence drones….
Acquiring those weapons, or comparable European types , would certainly turn the tide strongly FOR the Ukraine…
But?
It would appear the American President is NOT willing to go HEAVY….
There are all sorts of excuses…
But Zelensky and his General’s have to know were President Biden stands…
He HAS been there for the Ukraine effort….
And the Ukrainians have been thankful….
But they won’t get the Heavy stuff….
At least not for now….
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hasn’t been a wallflower in calling out Western governments for the weapons his country needs to repel Russian invaders, and has demanded more artillery, rocket launchers and precision weapons, which the U.S. and Western allies eventually provided in large numbers this summer.
But there’s been a shift in recent weeks from loudly calling for air defense and fighter jets to quieter negotiations. The campaign to tone it down has been led by Zelenskyy’s advisers in Kyiv and key interlocutors in Washington, along with friendly advice from the Biden administration itself, which encouraged Kyiv to focus more intently on what it needs right now to push Russian forces out of entrenched positions in Ukraine’s east and south, the people said.
The change from a public campaign to a private one came as advisers grew concerned that the requests for high-end weapons were a distraction from Kyiv’s more immediate battlefield needs and concerns that the asks were muddling their tightly-scripted message.
For months after Russia’s full-scale invasion in late February, Ukrainian leaders asked for Patriot systems and other high-end technologies, putting them at the top of the wish lists sent to Washington and circulated in the press. But big-ticket items have been left off the latest requests for must-need weaponry, which have stuck to requesting more artillery shells and rockets for HIMARS rocket launchers.
Talks about eventually obtaining Patriots, F-16s and Gray Eagles at some point down the road continue at low levels, however, according to three industry sources and people who are in touch with the Kyiv government.
The concerns aren’t merely that the high-tech systems would be provocative to Moscow, but also that complex maintenance and support for the systems would challenge Ukraine in the middle of the war. In the case of Patriots, their relative scarcity makes supplying Ukraine a challenge. U.S. Army Patriot units are some of the most deployed units in the service, with allies across Europe, the Middle East and Pacific demanding the protection they provide.
There is also a prioritization problem: existing NATO allies want these systems too. As more Eastern European countries ditch their older Russian or even Soviet-era aircraft, they’re looking to the U.S. to begin selling or financing F-16s for their own defense. Already, the delivery of 14 F-16s to Slovakia has been delayed a year — to 2024 — due to supply chain issues, and Taiwan remains high on the priority list for the jets and their spare parts….
…
Whenever more new technologies arrive, it has become clear that Ukraine will increasingly be flooded with NATO-standard equipment as older Russian stockpiles of everything from ammunition to spare parts dries up across Europe, putting Western donors in the position of donating — or selling — increasingly high-end equipment to Kyiv for decades to come….
image of a A-10 and F-16 on top….Popular Mechanics