Ukraine needs ground-based anti-aircraft missiles, in addition to anti-tank missiles. These weapons, along with the ability of the U.S. to look down from satellites, will give the Ukraine military a decided advantage in a war with Russia. That’s if the Ukraine military will stand and fight. Something we did not see from the Iraqis (other than the Iraqi-Kurds) or from the Afghans. Ukraine has, for years now, manned the border with the Russian separatists of the Donbas region. Taking the Russians on directly would be another level of challenge. Azerbaijan took care of Russia’s toady Armenia quite easily a couple years ago. Putin’s supposed invincibility of his military will be put to the test, and nobody can know beforehand how this will turn out. I’m o.k. with holding back ascension of Ukraine, Georgia, Finland and maybe Azerbaijan and Sweden to NATO as long as Russia seeks a peaceful resolution of borders. Also, no stationing of offensive capabilities near Russia. But, these are among the things that go off the table upon another Russian invasion. If Russia cannot commit itself to peaceful resolution of disputes, there needs to be no fuzziness as to where the borders are that will trigger war with us. As for us, the U.S., or us, NATO, consider the following: we spend $700 billion a year on defense, NATO $811 billion, and Russia $62 billion. And, Russia has a lot to lose if its “invincibility” becomes doubted. China thinks it owns the near republics of central Asia, and may have designs on Mongolia and Siberia as well. And, China isn’t a democracy like are we and the other nations of NATO. BTW as you can see by the numbers I quoted about military expenditure, Trump was absolutely right to call out the members of NATO that fall short of their military commitment. NATO is practically nothing without us.
We Are NATO, always have been. The Europeans are a token force.
Ukrainian Army running away from Lugansk in Summer 2014:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AgQ9heWeIs
Ukrainian Army running away from Ilovaysk in 2014 (900 out of 8000 escaped, thousands deserted over the Russian border to claim asylum):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eofEtX5DiM&t=24s
I have no idea what war they are talking about. Ukraine never replenished the equipment they lost in 2014. Their air force does not exist anymore, they don’t have armor to speak of, and so on.
Azerbaijan??
Having Turkey in NATO is bad enough. Azerbaijan is Turkey Jr. All the Azeris know how to do is murder the Armenians and steal their land.
BTW, my wish is that the US would leave NATO. But I know that will never happen.
The Ukrainians have fought, for years, Russian regular army forces in the Donbas region. It was Russian regulars, not a bunch of revolutionaries, that fought for almost a whole year trying to take a single Ukrainian airport in vain.
Putin later tried to claim those were "coal workers," but the presence of Russkie regulars with modern weapons has been verified by numerous sources. I think the Russkies are even bragging on their version of twitter right now that members of certain military divisions are "returning" to fight again in Ukraine.