Posted on 07/08/2022 7:08:28 PM PDT by Zhang Fei
Republican James E. Risch (Idaho) was in Ukraine, touring the country. He was escorted by Ukrainian forces because the State Department refused to provide him security once he crossed the Ukrainian border. He met with Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, and came away with the conclusion that the current U.S. strategy has not properly adjusted to the latest phase of the fighting.
Russian forces are pummeling Ukrainian civilian and military targets in the Donbas with their superior artillery. Ukrainian forces are still not receiving enough of the weapons that might give them the advantage — including long-range air defenses, longer-range artillery, heavy armor and fighter planes. The White House process of trying to parse which weapons would be “escalatory” is a recipe for a stalemate.
“If you are just giving weapons to fight to a stalemate, that’s not a good situation and that has consequences,” he said. “We need to be in or out. And if we are in, we need to give them what they need to win.”
In Madrid, Biden promised that the United States and Europe will support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression “as long as it takes.” But he didn’t say that he would give Ukraine the means to shorten that timeline. Even though the United States has pledged billions to support Ukraine’s military, only a fraction of those resources have arrived, leaving the Ukrainian military badly outgunned in the Donbas.
Privately, several administration officials told me that the delays are not a result of any problem with the actual delivery of weapons. The core problem is the protracted hand-wringing inside the Biden policy team over each weapons decision. Risch said this is caused by a misguided concern that if Putin starts to lose badly, he might escalate further.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Ukraine ping
Josh Rogin is a party-neutral foreign policy commentator who has mostly focused on China. He has ignored repeated invitations from left-wing pundits to step on Trump. His take is that Biden is deliberately going slow on military supplies to Ukraine, much of which involves things that don’t materially improve Ukraine’s military position. Something like $7b in aid, civilian and military, has been sent so far, out of $40b appropriated.
Its a slow process, but happening.
12 HIMARs in country or on the way.
18 PzH2000 in country or on the way.
Going to reach a critical mass in the coming weeks.
“… 12 HIMARs in country or on the way.
18 PzH2000 in country or on the way.
Going to reach a critical mass in the coming weeks.”
**********************************************
Well, it’s certainly good that the Russians are not destroying or capturing any of that equipment. /sarc
Profitable.
Do you realize that you are a dumb person? Oh, people voted for Biden (really) it is to be expected.
I do not think so.
Russia has no desire to end this.
That’s what I think too.
Moscow Joe is slow walking the aid. Congress appropriated $40 billion. But Joe is sending $400 million a week in weapons and making a big deal out of it each time.
Biden is earning Hunter’s payouts from Moscow and Burisma while playing mining US Aide for headlines and playing a cruel game with Ukraine.
We need to be in this war to win, not out of it. And not dragging it out.
This is still Obama’s Ukraine strategy
We don’t NEED to be in this crap at all.
If you are a New World Order freak your opinion may vary.
Meaning, NATO bases might get nuked unless we limit this to a friendly little war. /s
I don't know who this Risch guy is - but he probably shouldn't soot for Mensa any time soon.
Only sociopaths want to see the Ukrainians fight to the last man and lose every single inch of their country. But, that will happen unless Ukraine surrenders.
The neocon sickos here couldn't care less about the Ukrainians. This all about futile, feckless attempt to harm Russia that is failing miserably.
The Russians already have gained land that comprises 70-80% of Ukraine's former GDP. That land will remain controlled by Russia and their allies in the DPR and LPR.
Biden’s Ukraine strategy risks prolonging a violent stalemate”
That is the goal.
“Even though the United States has pledged billions to support Ukraine’s military, only a fraction of those resources have arrived, leaving the Ukrainian military badly outgunned in the Donbas”
The funds are being plundered before they ever get to Ukraine. Sometimes I wonder if the United States is just as corrupt as Russia and Ukraine.
Where does all that money go? Is this how billionaires are made?
Methinks we are being played; if our government doesn’t give a damn about American taxpayers, why do they give a damn about Ukrainians?
“12 HIMARs in country or on the way.”
Russians can buy Chinese-made tents.
Is tent 48 in a field with 50 tents a plain tent or a tent with a Russian artillery piece?
The delays are driven by strident opposition in the Pentagon.
Not the White House. They are all of one mind.
“between 1941 and 1945, Soviet factories produced 10,000 of the legendary launchers.
“Originally designed as a cheap ad hoc alternative to conventional artillery, the truck-mounted 132-mm Katyusha launcher could fire as many as four-dozen warheads distances of more than six miles (9 km) in a single ten-second burst. Although woefully inaccurate when compared to ordinary howitzers, concentrations of Katyushas could shower vast areas with a dense hail of high explosives and then speed to safety before enemy guns could even get a fix on them – a practice known as ‘shoot and scoot.’”
Russia is slaughtering tens of thousands, razing whole cities and homes of millions, driving millions into refugee status. Any claim they had of this being a protective measure for Russian speaking people in eastern Ukraine has been proven false by the tactics Russia has chosen to employ.
Fortunately the choice is not between being a globalist or not. The choice is between having a spine or not, about caring for your fellow man or not, about promoting freedom or not. I stand for stopping this human atrocity, for beating back the forces of dictatorship and oppression, and for Ukraine's right to self determination including freedom to choose with whom they associate. And if globalists were the only people standing with me, they're not, then I would still stand.
“The maximum range of the gun is 30–36 km with the standard DM121 Boattail round, about 40–47 km with base bleed rounds, and 67 km with M2005 V-LAP assisted projectiles.[5] In April 2006 a PzH 2000 shot assisted shells (Denel V-Lap) over a distance of 56 km with a probable maximum range of over 60 km.[6] The gun can also fire the SMArt 155 artillery round, which is used by Germany and Greece.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzerhaubitze_2000
only 17 million Euros for each Panzerhaubitze 2000 according to google
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMArt_155
“The M982 Excalibur (previously XM982) is a 155 mm extended range guided artillery shell....By 2016, unit costs were reduced to US$68,000 per round.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M982_Excalibur
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.