tanks, warplanes, other heavy weapons to Ukraine

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s top diplomat called Wednesday for Western allies to send tanks, warplanes and other heavy weapons to Ukraine, saying fears of escalating the war were misplaced and “inaction would be the greatest provocation.”

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said “this is a time for courage, not caution” among nations helping Ukraine fight Russia’s invasion.

“Heavy weapons, tanks, airplanes — digging deep into our inventories, ramping up production. We need to do all of this,” Truss said during an annual foreign policy speech at Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor of London.

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-boris-jo…

9 Likes

Liz gets it! She reminds me of a story about why Golda Meir couldn’t wear miniskirts. Sorry, it’s an adults only joke.

The Captain

3 Likes

Golda might not have been a lovely fashion model, but she did a solid job as Israel’s first female PM. Often compared to UK’s Thatcher as Israel’s “Iron Lady”.

I remember the character playing her in the movie “Munich”, as she resolutely wished the leader from Israel’s Mossad that was being sent off to avenge the murder of Israeli athletes. Fascinating.

2 Likes

What crosses my mind is there will be a huge logistics problem for Ukraine as western stocks of Russian equipment and ammo are exhausted and they transition to NATO equipment.

Steve

1 Like

logistics problem for Ukraine as western stocks of Russian equipment and ammo are exhausted

Yes. And that is one strong reason for the huge push to get NATO weaponry into Ukraine as soon as possible, but it also raises the stakes for Hungary to follow Slovakia’s lead and send its Russian equipment to Ukraine or really really really see Orban written off as a pure Putin tool.

david fb

1 Like

it also raises the stakes for Hungary to follow Slovakia’s lead and send its Russian equipment to Ukraine or really really really see Orban written off as a pure Putin tool.

david fb

There’s a LOT of irony in seeing Orban’s kowtowing to Vlad, given the brutal Russian put down of the Hungarian revolt back in 1956. Some said that Hungarians were encouraged to try, because they thought they read that President Ike would be there for them like he was eleven years earlier. It was extremely ugly.

Course, that was then and this is now. Orban has simply weighed the realistic situation, and thinks that the best for his country is not to offend or kick the Ruskie bear, who resides ‘right close by in the neighborhood’.

Orban is definitely in the place between a rock and a hard place.

What crosses my mind is there will be a huge logistics problem for Ukraine as western stocks of Russian equipment and ammo are exhausted and they transition to NATO equipment.

I was surprised to learn (but probably shouldn’t have been surprised) that the Pentagon has robust capabilities in sourcing Soviet-style arms and ammunition. And you’re right, it is a big job.

And since the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon has been buying large amounts of such weapons through a variety of American defense firms to supply client armies in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other countries that still rely on Soviet-designed arms.

One of those companies is the Ultra Defense Corp. in Tampa, Fla., which has about 60 employees and has built a bustling business working with factories in Romania, Bosnia, Serbia, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/25/us/ukraine-pentagon-arms-…

…with factories in Romania, Bosnia, Serbia, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

Most of those countries are already members of NATO, or aligned with NATO, already. Big difference between supplying a few hundred or thousand AKs and RPGs to an insurgency and heavy combat systems for a small scale repeat of WWII, with organized armies and heavy weapons on both sides. While the Romanian arms industry, for instance, can supply the Romanian army with tanks, artillery and such, does it have the capacity to supply Ukraine as fast as material like that is destroyed in combat?

Saw a bit of video on the news tonight: a shattered, bombed out, city, with an artillery barrage falling close by. Looks very much like about every WWII ETO movie I ever saw.

Steve

3 Likes