Visiting Ukraine with the United States during the First Ukrainian Open World War II: State-of-the-Art and US-Selected Issues

A senior Defense Department official added that work was continuing on improving Ukrainian air defenses, including “finding Soviet-era capabilities to make sure that countries were ready (and) could donate them and help move those capabilities.”

It doesn’t meet the immediate needs of Ukraine for dispersed defenses to counter Russia’s wide range of air and missile threats. But the anticipated US decision to supply the system may instead be a preemptive response to a possible new emerging threat – the arrival of Iranian ballistic missiles to step up Russia’s campaign of destruction still further.

Ukrainians want the US to send the missile defense system that is highly effective at intercepting missiles to help them in the face of Russian attacks on key infrastructure.

“It’s not just about the equipment that you have. He said it was about how you use equipment, how you set up battlefield effects, and how you can create opportunities.

He said that the battle is not only for Ukrainians, but for any nation that Russia wants to conquer. “The struggle will define in what world our children and grandchildren will live in.”

After falling out with his partner at a limousine company, Martin Zlatev decided to sell $30 million worth of rockets to the Ukrainian military.

“Time is of the essence,” the pair recently wrote to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense. They outlined a plan to sell American, Bulgarian and Bosnian arms to Ukraine.

In Washington, Republicans poised to take control of Congress have made clear they won’t rubber stamp each of Biden’s requests for Ukraine assistance – though fears funding will dry up completely appear unfounded. More security and economic assistance is close to being approved by Congress.

Biden invited Zelensky to Washington this week because he believes the war in Ukraine is entering a “new phase,” officials said ahead of the visit. Zelensky was able to make a dramatic public appeal for continued international support as the winter sets in and Russia continues its targeting of civilian infrastructure.

The visit was hastily pulled together over the past 10 days by American and Ukrainian officials to show their continued commitment to Ukraine, at a time when Biden is having difficulty maintaining his support at home and abroad.

Russian Security Council Secretary of State John Kirby on Putin’s alleged “Death of the Right” Effort for Nuclear Security

On Monday a senior US defense official said they didn’t have any information to provide on the suggestion Iran is preparing to send missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine.

As of a Department of Defense briefing in late September, the US had yet to deliver NASAMS to Ukraine. At the time, Brig. Two systems will be delivered in the next two months, and the rest of the systems will be delivered by the year’s end, according to Gen. Patrick Ryder.

Zelensky said in a video message Tuesday that 20 of 28 missiles fired at Ukraine that morning had been shot down. Ukrainian officials have told CNN that more than half of the missiles fired by the Russians were brought down.

The attack on the bridge that was part of the Russian-Ukrainian border began almost immediately after it and intensified attacks on civilian infrastructure in the country.

Putin raised the threat of nuclear weapons if he determined that the integrity of Russia’s borders had been jeopardized, after announcing a partial deployment of some 300,000 reserve soldiers following successful Ukrainian counterattacks. The annexation of four Ukrainian regions by the Russian president was in defiance of international law.

The deputy head of Russia’s Security Council said recently he thinks Moscow should aim for the complete dismantling of Zelensky’s regime.

According to John Kirby, a National Security Council member, there will likely be more support packages forUkraine in the very near future.

Kirby told Kate that he felt the pressure at home and overseas and that he had to say how he would react.

He said that despite Russia’s threats about nuclear weapons, there has been no detected change in Russia’s nuclear posture, but Putin’s rhetoric “is by itself reckless and dangerous.”

Blackouts in Kyiv: Russia’s most recent weapons deployments, and the need for further cooperation between Russia and the United States

Critical and civil infrastructure was hit in 12 regions and the capital, where more than 30 fires broke out, the emergency services said, adding the blazes have been put out.

In his remarks Saturday night, Mr. Zelensky said that blackouts have persisted throughout various parts of Ukraine including in the capital, Kyiv. Some are what he classified as “emergency” outages resulting from attacks. He called them “stabilization” outs or planned outs on a schedule.

If the Russians keep using swarms of missiles they’ll wreak havoc on the civilian population, as well as on the air defenses.

Russian andUkrainian officials said the attacks were carried out using a Soviet-era, jet-powered surveillance drone modified to function as an offensive weapon, a claim denied by a state-owned Ukrainian contractor.

The question of longevity and sustainability remains because it is unclear how long Iran can or would continue providing weaponry – including more advanced missiles – to Russia.

The Russians have also been adapting the S-300 – normally an air defense missile – as an offensive weapon, with some effect. Their speed makes it difficult to intercept them, so they have wreaked havoc in Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv. But they are hardly accurate.

The Internal Ministry spokesman reported that there were attacks on infrastructure near the city’s main rail station, but the lines were not disrupted.

He told Richard that this is the first time since the beginning of the war that Russia has targeted energy infrastructure.

As the war nears the one-year mark, there has also been a steady escalation in the types of weaponry supplied to Ukraine. The addition of the Patriot system is welcome by Deptula, but more needs to be done. “Wars aren’t won just with good defense,” Deptula said, adding that it’s time for the US to provide Ukraine with fighter aircraft, advanced precision munitions and longer-range surface to surface missiles.

In what may be a no less subtle message than calling the Patriot deployments provocative, Russia’s defense ministry shared video of the installation of a “Yars” intercontinental ballistic missile into a silo launcher in the Kaluga region for what Alexei Sokolov, commander of the Kozelsky missile formation, called “combat duty as planned.”

Estimating the proportion of Iranian-made Shahed drones being eliminated is more difficult, because so many are being used. Zelensky said that “every 10 minutes I receive a message about the enemy’s use of Iranian Shaheds.” But he also said the bulk of them were being shot down.

Ukranian Defense Forces in the Light of a “New Era” of Air Defense: Prime Minister Reznikov and Secretary of State

At the meeting on Wednesday, Ukraine made a wish-list that included missiles for their existing systems as well as a transition to Western origin air defense system.

A Patriot missile battery would be the most effective long-range defensive weapons system sent to the country and officials say it will help secure airspace for NATO nations in eastern Europe. CNN first reported last week that the US was planning to send Patriot systems to Ukraine.

Western systems are beginning to trickle in. The Minister of Defense of the Ukranian has stated that a “new era of air defense has begun” with the arrival of the first IRIS-T from Germany.

“This is only the beginning. And we need more,” Reznikov said Wednesday before tweeting as he met with Ukraine’s donors at the Brussels meeting:” Item #1 on today’s agenda is strengthening (Ukraine’s) air defense. Feeling optimistic.”

But these are hardly off-the-shelf-items. The IRIS-T was made for Ukranian. Western governments have limited inventories of such systems. And Ukraine is a very large country under missile attack from three directions.

U.S. Air Defense Forces in Kyiv: The “Kaze” since Russia’s Invasion of Kiev in February

Ukraine’s senior military commander, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, tweeted Tuesday his thanks to Poland as “brothers in arms” for training an air defense battalion that had destroyed nine of 11 Shaheeds.

He said Poland had given Ukraine “systems” to help destroy the drones. There was a report last month that the Polish government had bought advanced Israeli equipment, and was transferring it to Ukraine, because Israel has a policy of not selling “advanced defensive technology” to Kyiv.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, drones have played a big part, but their use has gone up in the summer when the United States and the Ukranian government accused Moscow of acquiring drones from Iran. In the last month these Iranian drones have been used to target critical energy infrastructure.

The drones are disposable, and so they are referred to as the “kaze”. They are designed to hit behind enemy lines and are destroyed in an attack, unlike the more traditional military drones that come home after dropping missiles.

The mayor of Kyiv said there were two Russian strikes on the city. Two more also hit the city, according to Ukraine’s public broadcaster.

Klitschko’s office says several residential buildings were damaged. 18 people were extricated from the rubble of one building, while two others are still missing. Many of the city’s central streets are closed for emergency services to respond.

The enemy won’t be able to break us, even though it can attack. “The occupiers will be punished fairly and we will get victory because of it,” wrote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In the past, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff called on the western countries to provide air defense systems for Ukraine. He said that they have no time for slow actions.

The picture of the bomb that was labeled Geran-2 was removed from the post after some people criticized him for showing the Russian strike.

Observation of Ukrainian Unmanned Aerial Systems and Their Use in the Search for Nuclear Threat: An Update from EU and US Embassy in Luxembourg

Foreign ministers from the EU are in Luxembourg. The EU’s top diplomat told reporters before the meeting that concrete evidence of Iran’s involvement in the Ukraine case would be looked into.

Ukrainian and Russian forces have been using battery-powered commercial drones, which are cheaper than larger drones. Quadcopters fly shorter distances and hover over a position before dropping small weapons like grenades on enemy troops and vehicles. They are designed to be recovered, rearmed and used again after their batteries are recharged.

In March, the Pentagon announced it would send 100 “tactical unmanned aerial systems” called Switchblades. The next month, the administration said it would provide another 300. Eight days later, the Defense Department said it would send 120 Phoenix Ghost drones to Ukraine. In July the US provided funds for Ukraine to purchase more of them.

In August, the Pentagon said it would launch and control a bunch of drones from as far as nine miles away. The animals can stay at altitudes of about 500 feet.

Iran is Preparing to Send More Warheads to the Horn of the Middle East, as Described by a Western Country Watching the UAV Program

Iran is preparing to send approximately 1,000 additional weapons, including surface-to-surface short range ballistic missiles and more attack drones, to Russia to use in its war against Ukraine, officials from a western country that closely monitors Iran’s weapons program told CNN.

The Iranian drones are known as a “loitering munition” because they are capable of circling for some time in an area identified as a potential target and only striking once an enemy asset is identified.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken said last week that the US is looking at everything it can do to disrupt the Iranian weapons from going to Russia. He said the US is trying to break up the networks.

Earlier this month John Kirby, the communications coordinator at the National Security Council, said the presence of Iranian personnel was evidence of Tehran’s direct engagement in the conflict.

They know that those drones have been used to target civilians. And we know that Iran, in the face of all of this evidence, keeps lying and denying that it’s happening,” Malley said.

Last month the US sanctioned an air transportation provider for its involvement in the shipment of the Iranian drones, also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to Russia. The US is also ready to “target producers and procurers” contributing to the UAV program, the Treasury Department’s Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence said.

The History of the Cold War between Russia and the West: CNN World Affairs Viewpoint on Putin’s Legacy of the Ukraine War and the U.S. Aid Problem

Editor’s Note: Frida Ghitis, (@fridaghitis) a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She writes for CNN, The Washington Post, and World Politics Review. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion on CNN.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was never a run-of-the-mill border dispute. Even before it started, as Putin initiated – and continuously denied – his march to war, the importance of preventing Russia’s autocratic regime from gaining control of its neighbor, with its incipient democracy, was clear.

The world would be a less stable place if Russia was allowed to win the war.

For that reason, Ukraine received massive support from the West, led by the United States. The war in Ukraine reinvigorated NATO, even bringing new applications for membership from countries that had been committed to neutrality. It helped remind people in eastern European states that they should orient their future towards Europe and the West.

Much of what happens today far from the battlefields still has repercussions there. The US accused Saudi Arabia of helping Russia fund the war by increasing oil revenues as a result of Riyadh’s decision to slash production. (An accusation the Saudis deny).

Separately, weapons supplies to Ukraine have become a point of tension with Israel, which has developed highly effective defense systems against incoming missiles. Ukraine has asked Israel to provide those systems, including the Iron Dome and David’s Sling, but Israel refuses, citing its own strategic concerns.

The military aid had an effect. It’s a completely different scale, but CNN reported last month the US is running low on some weapons systems and munitions it provides to Ukraine. Look for that storyline to become part of the US aid debate after Republicans take control of the House of Representatives next month and promise more scrutiny of US aid for Ukraine.

Inflation, the Cold War, and the War on the War–Induced Political Processes in the 21st Century

Higher prices not only affect family budgets and individual lives. When they come with such powerful momentum, they pack a political punch. Inflation, worsened by the war, has put incumbent political leaders on the defensive in countless countries.

And it’s not all on the fringes. Kevin McCarthy suggested that the GOP could reduce aid to Ukraine when he became speaker of the House. Progressive Democrats released and withdrew a letter calling for negotiations. Evelyn Farkas, a former Pentagon official, said they bring a smile to Putin’s face.

There are people anticipating a possible battle for the Russian-occupied city of Kherson. The officials have been preparing for a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Some Republicans said that funding forUkraine could be limited if the Democrats win control of the House of Representatives.

The Turkish President will host the Swedish Prime Minister on Tuesday. Erdogan insists Sweden must meet certain conditions before it can join NATO.

State of Ukraine: Reiterating the Ukrain Crisis with the United Nations and the ISA Report on Ukraine’s War with Russia

On Wednesday, the General Assembly of the United Nations is scheduled to discuss a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Russia rejoined a UN brokered deal to safely export grain and agricultural goods from their neighbor, Ukraine. The deal had been suspended by Moscow due to the attack on its Black Sea ships by the Ukrainians.

The United States will supply Ukraine with Bradley fighting vehicles as part of a new security assistance package to the country as it nears the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

You can read past recaps here. More in-depth stories and context can be found here. Also, listen and subscribe to NPR’s State of Ukraine podcast for updates throughout the day.

But Milley’s position is not widely backed by President Joe Biden’s national security team, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, neither of whom believe it’s time to make a serious push for talks over Ukraine, according to two administration officials familiar with the discussion.

“The Ukrainians have made clear their belief that this war will ultimately end at the negotiating table. Price said the Russians occasionally have voiced that sentiment, and he has to show proof on Putin.

Milley has had a push for peace in recent days as the Ukranians take back the city of Kherson. In comments at the Economic Club of New York on Wednesday, Milley praised the Ukrainian army for fighting Russia to a stalemate, but said that an outright military victory is out of reach.

The comments left administration officials unsurprised – given Milley’s advocacy for the position internally – but also raised concerned among some about the administration appearing divided in the eyes of the Kremlin.

Senior US officials, including Sullivan, have recently been urgingUkraine to signal that it is still open to diplomatic discussions with Russia, even after Zelensky signed a decree in October ruling out negotiations with Putin.

Officials said Milley has made it clear to them that he doesn’t want a Ukrainian capitulation, but rather that he wants an end to the war now, before it drags into spring or beyond.

But that view is not widely held across the administration. One official explained that the State Department is on the opposite side of the pole from Milley. That dynamic has led to a unique situation where military brass are more fervently pushing for diplomacy than US diplomats.

The US does not participate in the 2010 ban on cluster munitions, and has large stores of the weapons. But administration officials believe that, in addition to the congressional limitations, there are too many downsides to the use of cluster munitions – the biggest being the risk they pose to civilians – to justify transferring them unless absolutely necessary. And for now, the US does not believe the munitions to be imperative to Ukraine’s success on the battlefield.

The US intends to buy 100,000 rounds of artillery ammunition from South Korean arms manufacturers to provide to Ukraine, a US official said, part of a broader effort to find available weaponry for the high-intensity battles unfolding in Ukraine. As part of the deal, the US will purchase 100,000 rounds of 155mm howitzer ammunition, which will then be transferred to Ukraine through the US.

State Department Chairman Ned Price Hasn’t Done the Right Thing about the US-Russia War on Crime: The Prospects for a New Diplomacy

State Department spokesperson Ned Price would not say Thursday whether the State Department agrees with Milley’s position. Instead, Price deflected to a position that US officials have often made in recent months: the US sides with Zelensky who has said that a diplomatic solution is needed.

Russia wants to restore its empire at the expense of peaceful neighboring states, so sanctions have not been enough. The US and other Western backers should change the terms of the conflict to stop setting targets for Russia to destroy. The international community must more than simply tolerate the savagery of Russia, which is pursuing a war of colonial reconquest. It’s long been time for more direct intervention.

“The United States is going to be with Ukraine for as long as it takes in this fight,” Sullivan said in a recent visit to Ukraine. There will be no wavering or flinching as we go forward.

Russia’s use of the munitions – including its 300mm Smerch cluster rockets that can unleash 72 submunitions over an area the size of a football pitch – has been documented in dozens of Ukrainian regions, including in Kharkiv, as CNN has reported.

Senior Biden administration officials have been fielding this request for months and have not rejected it outright, CNN has learned, a detail that has not been previously reported.

The Ukraine-Ukraine Conflict in the Light of Russia’s Resolution of Ukraine’s Nuclear Confinement Problem – a Response to a CNN Message

Cluster munitions are imprecise by design, and scatter “bomblets” across large areas that can fail to explode on impact and can pose a long-term risk to anyone who encounters them, similar to landmines. They create so much carnage with their sub-munitions that anyone hit by them will be dead, according to a weapons expert who has previously spoken to CNN.

The Biden administration has not taken the option off the table as a last resort, if stockpiles begin to run dangerously low. But sources say the proposal has not yet received significant consideration in large part due to the statutory restrictions that Congress has put on the US’ ability to transfer cluster munitions.

Those restrictions apply to munitions with a greater than one percent unexploded ordnance rate, which raises the prospect that they will pose a risk to civilians. President Joe Biden could override that restriction, but the administration has indicated to the Ukrainians that that is unlikely in the near term.

The United States and Ukraine have agreed that Kyiv will not strike targets in Russia with American-provided weaponry. The Biden administration has vowed to avoid American involvement that could escalate to direct confrontation with Russia. American officials will not object to the Ukrainians using their own weaponry.

The Ministry of Defense doesn’t comment on requests for specific equipment until the deal with the supplier is in place.

“They [DPICMs] are more effective when you have a concentration of Russian forces,” the Ukrainian official told CNN, noting that Ukraine has been asking for the weapons “for many months.”

Russian drone strikes on the southern port city of Odesa left more than 1.5 million people in that region without power on Saturday night, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In his nightly address on Saturday, Mr. Zelensky said Ukraine had shot down 10 of the 15 drones that Russian forces used. It was not possible to check his tally immediately.

The assaults on the power plants that Ukrainians rely on for heat and light have drawn condemnation from world leaders who say Ukraine is in a grim cycle where crews hurry to restore power only to have it knocked out again.

“The power system is now, to put it mildly, very far from a normal state — there is an acute shortage in the system,” he said, urging people to reduce their power use to put less strain on the battered power grid.

“It must be understood: Even if there are no heavy missile strikes, this does not mean that there are no problems,” he continued. Missile attacks, drones, and shelling are almost every day in different regions. Energy facilities are hit pretty much every day.

U.S. Army Missions to Ukraine: The Biden Administration is Close to Finalising Plans for a Militia Reactor System

The Biden administration is close to finalising plans to send a missile defense system to Ukraine, according to two US officials and a senior administration official.

The Pentagon needs to get approval from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin before it gets endorsed by the president. The three officials told CNN that approval is expected.

Not to mention the significant logistical needs; just one battery is operated by roughly 90 soldiers, and includes computers, an engagement control system, a phased array radar, power generating equipment, and “up to eight launchers,” according to the Army.

The official said US troops would train Ukrainians to use the system in a third country. CNN previously reported the training would be at a US Army base in Germany.

He said that it could be worth the cost to take out the Iranian Shahed system, which is headed towards critical infrastructure in Ukraine. The move makes sense given that Russia is taking on Ukrainian critical infrastructure.

The transfer of a ground-based defense system to Ukraine in response to the Russian attack on Ukraine, as requested by Defense Secretary L. J. Zelensky

The question of manpower was the biggest obstacle. About 90 positions are typically assigned to operate one missile battery. And the training needed is substantial; course lengths range from 13 weeks for a launching station operator to 53 weeks for a maintenance role, according to Army recruitment materials.

Previously, the US has sent Patriot batteries to NATO allies like Poland as a way to bolster their defenses, and sent other weapon systems to Ukraine to assist against the Russian invasion.

Washington. Two U.S. officials on Tuesday said that the US is ready to approve sending its most advanced ground-based air defense system to Ukraine in order to respond to Russian missile and drone attacks.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III could approve a directive as early as this week to transfer one Patriot battery already overseas to Ukraine, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. President Biden would have final approval.

White House, Pentagon and State Department officials declined to comment on details of the transfer of a Patriot battery, which, if approved, would amount to one of the most sophisticated weapons the U.S. has provided Ukraine.

In a speech to the Group of 7 nations on Monday, Mr. Zelensky thanked the countries for their continued support but listed financing for weapons first among his requests.

“Earlier, many experts, including those overseas, questioned the rationality of such a step which would lead to an escalation of the conflict and increase the risk of directly dragging the US army into combat,” Zakharova said at a briefing in Moscow.

The Patriot system is expensive and complicated and requires intensive training for the multiple people it takes to operate it, but could help the country guard against Russian attacks that have left millions without power.

I am pretty sure that it was ironic that officials from a country that attacked their neighbor in an unprovoked invasion would choose to use provocative words about defensive systems that are meant to save lives and protect civilians.

Donetsk massacre: a demonstration of Russian war crimes in the United States and the ruined city Bakhmut (Slovenian)

Appearing this week on Russian state TV, Commander Alexander Khodakovsky of the Russian militia in the Donetsk region suggested Russia could not defeat the NATO alliance in a conventional war.

Zelensky was quoted in the The Economist interview as saying that he rejected the idea that the only area of Ukraine that could be reclaimed was land seized by Russia.

In a conversation with France 24, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance had two main objectives: to provide assistance to Ukraine and make sure NATO did not become involved in the war.

Old ammo. CNN’s Ellie Kaufman and Liebermann reported earlier this week on a US military official who says Russian forces have had to resort to 40-year-old artillery ammunition as their supplies of new ammo are “rapidly dwindling.”

An official told reporters that when they load the bullets, they cross their fingers that it will fire or explode.

They are in the trenches. CNN’s Will Ripley filed a video report from trenches and fortifications being built along Ukraine’s border with Belarus, where there is growing concern about Russia once again assembling troops. Ripley talks to a sewing machine repairman turned tank driver.

Striking the city of Donetsk. The Russian-installed mayor in the area said that Ukraine launched a serious attack on the area controlled by Russian-backed rebels.

The president of the Ukranian government will go to Washington on Wednesday for the first time since his country was invaded over 300 days ago.

According to Zelensky’s office, he handed out awards to soldiers. Video posted by state TV showed the president clad in fatigues and a flak vest presenting awards to troops. Russian forces launched their siege of Bakhmut in May and quickly turned it into a ruined city.

Zelensky’s visit to Kiev during the first 10 months of the Ukrainian War on Everybody: What it Means for You, and what it means for the US

Pelosi has been making calls to members urging them to show up to the Capitol on Wednesday over fears the chamber would be empty ahead of the holiday recess, one member said. For a very special focus on democracy, Pelosi asked for the members to be in attendance.

Several sources say Zelensky will address Congress on Wednesday. Sources caution that this may not be finalized yet because of security concerns.

The visit by the Ukrainian leader to Washington, expected to last only a matter of hours, nonetheless amounts to a remarkable moment 10 months since Russia’s war in Ukraine began.

The US will execute the parameters Zelensky decided met his needs, according to the official. The trip was finally confirmed on Sunday.

Zelensky may have flown aboard a US military aircraft out of his country, but US officials declined to give additional details about the security arrangements. It has been difficult to get in and out of the country. Western leaders who have visited Kyiv over the past year have journeyed on a lengthy train ride from Poland.

Editor’s Note: Keir Giles (@KeirGiles) works with the Russia and Eurasia Programme of Chatham House, an international affairs think tank in the UK. He is the author of “Russia’s War on Everybody: And What it Means for You.” The views expressed in this commentary by him are his own. Read more opinion on CNN.

Instead, it is in protecting the civilian population from Russia’s drone and missile campaign against critical civilian infrastructure – a campaign designed to end Ukrainian resistance by making the country uninhabitable.

repetition of the narrative that any one of a wide range of events would not be good for Russia will be highly effective in shaping US and Western behavior.

Russia’s efforts at deterrence continue to bring success in the form of arguments for a ceasefire as a preferable outcome to a Ukrainian victory – based on fear of the consequences of Russia suffering a defeat.

In doing so, the West has played along with the Kremlin’s pretense that it is not at war, only waging a “special military operation.” In effect, it has protected Russia from the consequences of its own aggression.

Russia’s most effective tool of deterrence remains nuclear threats. Loose talk from Russia about using nuclear weapons has died down a little recently, but a decade or more of driving home the message of inevitable nuclear response if Russia is cornered or humiliated has already had its effect.

That sets a disastrous example for other aggressive powers around the world. Nuclear weapons allow you to wage genocidal wars against your neighbors, as other nations aren’t going to intervene.

If that’s not the message the US and the West want other aggressor states around the world to receive, then supply of Patriot should be followed by far more direct and assertive means of dissuading Moscow.

The first headline deliverables are the Patriot missile systems. Complex, accurate, and expensive, they have been described as the US’s “gold standard” of air defense. NATO preciously guards them, and they require the personnel who operate them – almost 100 in a battalion for each weapon – to be properly trained.

There are two types of precision-guided munitions for Ukrainian jets. Russia and Ukraine have the same type of munitions that are fired towards a target. The Western standard precision missiles and Howitzers have been given to the country of Ukraine.

Western analysts have said that Russia has been complaining about the deliveries, but has been relatively quiet about it since January, when it might have been considered a red line.

How dangerous is the Patriot system? Donald J. Hertling, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, in the light of his 2016 presidential campaign

This is trickier. Congress’s likely new Speaker, Republican Kevin McCarthy, has warned the Biden administration cannot expect a “blank cheque” from the new GOP-led House of Representatives.

The remnants of Trump’s party have doubts about how much US aid the country should give to eastern Europe.

The cost of defeating Russia in this dark and lengthy conflict is relatively little for Washington, given its trillion-dollar defense budget.

He is an inspiring rhetorician, and the embodiment of how Putin has turned ordinary Ukrainians into wartime heroes.

“This is not a system that will go after drones or smaller ballistic missiles,” he said. Can it do that? Absolutely. But when you’re talking about knocking down a $20,000 drone, or a $100,000 ballistic missile that Russia buys, with a $3-5 million rocket, that doesn’t give you much of a return on the investment. What it can do it free up the low and medium systems to go after those kind of targets.”

The Center for Strategic International Studies said that the Patriot radar system is unique and makes it stand out among other air defense systems. The system does not need a final launch decision from the humans that operate it to engage in aerial threats.

“These systems don’t pick up and move around the battlefield,” Hertling said. You put them there in a place that protects your most important target, like a city. If anyone thinks the system will be spread across the 500-mile border between Ukraine and Russia, they don’t know how it works.

Depending on which missiles are used and what is being targeted, a Patriot battery has a strike range of roughly 20 to 100 miles — much too small to cover the entirety of Ukraine, which is about 800 miles from east to west and more than 500 miles from north to south.

Hertling states that offensive operations are more important than the system. It was first reported last month that the US was considering sending as many as 2,500 troops a month to a US base in Germany to train Ukrainian forces. The Pentagon said this month that combined arms training of battalion-sized elements, which will include infantry maneuvers and live fire exercises, would begin in January.

Hertling said the Patriots are a defensive, anti-ballistic and anti-aircraft weapon system. “You don’t win wars with defensive capabilities. You win wars with offensive capabilities.

The U.S. Patriot Missile System in Ukraine: Is It Really Necessary if Russians Can’t Disarm Ukraine?

“That will do a good job of defending maybe a single city, like Kyiv, against some threats. But it’s not putting a bubble over Ukraine,” said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The training requirements for the system mean it will be unlikely to be up and running until late winter or early spring.

Cancian warned that hasty training could cause the system’s effectiveness to be rendered useless, if Russians are able to destroy it. That in turn could damage the political will to send future assistance to Ukraine, he said.

“If the Ukrainians had a year or two to assimilate the system, that wouldn’t be any problem. The problem is they don’t have a year or two. They want to do this in a couple weeks,” Cancian said.

Before October, Ukrainian air defenses had focused on protecting frontline troops in the east and south, along with key government buildings and military sites in Kyiv and a handful of regional hubs.

The recent Russian airstrike barrages and ongoing assault on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure have turned up pressure on the U.S. and its allies to do more.

In addition to the Patriot battery, the new aid package announced Wednesday also includes additional HIMARS ammunition, mortars, artillery rounds and tens of thousands of GRAD rockets and tank ammunition.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/21/1144662505/us-ukraine-patriot-missile-system

Kelly Greico, A U.S. Army Green Sweatshirt Hero and a Wartime Leader: The First Day of World War II

Kelly Greico said that the announcement was a sign that there was a real concern about the air defense capability of Ukraine.

“That’s a terrible choice to face, between the natural urge to protect your civilians from these brutal attacks and trying to ensure that you have the long-term military wherewithal to continue to resist the Russian war effort,” Greico said.

Shrouded in secrecy until the last minute, the historic visit was heavy with symbolism, from Zelensky’s drab green sweatshirt to President Joe Biden’s blue-and-yellow striped tie to the Ukrainian battle flag unfurled on the House floor.

Both men said they expected the war to enter a new phase. Russia has sent more troops to the frontlines and launched a brutal air campaign against civilians, causing fears of a stalemate.

Zelensky left Washington for a long and risky trip to return to Ukraine, and it wasn’t clear what path to end the conflict would be.

“For me as a president, ‘just peace’ is no compromises,” he said, indicating he doesn’t see any road to peace that involves Ukraine giving up territory or sovereignty.

Peskov added that “there were no real calls for peace.” Zelensky said during his speech to the US Congress that we need peace.

For his part, Biden said it was up to Zelensky to “decide how he wants to the war to end,” a long-held view that leaves plenty of questions unanswered.

Zelensky spoke about the Battle of Saratoga during the American Revolutionary War, and the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, as well as other references to American history.

He telegraphed ahead of the speech that he would deliver his address in English. Even his attire – the now-familiar Army green shirt, cargo pants and boots – seemed designed to remind his audience they were in the presence of a wartime leader.

Zelensky hasn’t stopped arguing with Russia: Trump’s message to the Ukrainian people is coming out of the Cold War

Zelensky has shown he can appeal to his audience in a number of ways over the course of the conflict.

On Wednesday, he sought to harness Americans’ emotional response to his country’s suffering, evoking dark winter nights as Russia seeks to interrupt Ukraine’s power supply.

“In two days we will celebrate Christmas. Maybe candlelit. Not because it’s more romantic, no, but because there will not be – there will be no electricity,” he said.

But he also seemed aware that many Americans – including some Republicans in Congress – have wondered aloud why billions of US dollars are needed for a conflict thousands of miles away. He sought to make the cause about more than his own homeland.

Yet it doesn’t take much to see tensions just beneath the surface. Zelensky has always been pushing for more US support despite the tens of billions of dollars that Biden has directed to his country.

That hasn’t always sat well with Biden or his team. Biden appeared intent on bringing physical proximity to a better understanding of his counterpart, similar to how he has with a host of other foreign leaders.

“It is all about looking someone in the eye. I mean it with all of my heart. I don’t think there is any substitute for sitting down face to face with a friend or a foe and looking them in the eye,” he said.

He said it was important to hear directly from the president about the fight in his country and the need to continue to stand together.

Moscow said that the war in Ukraine is about to intensify, and that it is set for a long confrontation with Russia.

The foreign ministry condemned what it called themonstrous crimes of the “regime in Kyiv” after the US President promised more military support to the country during Zelensky’s White House meeting.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that no matter how much military support the West provides to the Ukrainian government, “they will achieve nothing.”

Her comments came after Zelensky delivered a historic speech from the US Capitol, expressing gratitude for American aid in fighting Russian aggression since the war began – and asking for more.

Peskov told journalists, however, that Wednesday’s meeting showed the US is waging a proxy war of “indirect fighting” against Russia down “to the last Ukrainian.”

The Russians are mostly buying the line because it is being sold by the Kremlin, according to a Russian history professor.

“Despite the fact that the majority of Russian people are weary, they still see this as an ongoing struggle between the West and Russia in which the Ukrainian people are being used as pawns,” he says.

Dismissing accusations of a proxy war, Sloat says Zelenskyy and Ukraine have made clear that they want a “just peace,” and all the U.S. has been doing is help the country defend itself against Russian aggression.

U.S. and Ukrainian Air Forces Are Open to a Peace Peace Summit, as Declared by Prime Minister Dmytro Kuleba

Since the missiles used in the air strikes on the Russian airfields are capable of hitting targets on the ground, the strikes could potentially destroy them before they are put to use.

“If somebody attacks you, you fight back,” Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a former Ukrainian defense minister who now advises President Volodomyr Zelensky, said in an interview earlier this month, after the first Ukrainian long-range strike on Russian military targets hit Engels and another airfield in central Russia.

Serhiy Hrabskiy, a retired colonel and commentator on the war for Ukrainian news media, said that Ukraine’s military has not hesitated to hit airfields, fuel tanks and ammunition depots that are legitimate military targets. Targeting sites in Crimea and cross-border artillery duels have become routine as the war has moved closer to Russia and the occupied peninsula.

The Kinzhal, the most sophisticated missile in Russia’s arsenal, is in short supply and is virtually impossible to shoot down.

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, told The Associated Press on Monday that his government wanted to hold a “peace summit,” hopefully mediated by the United Nations’ secretary general, António Guterres, by late February, but that Russia could not be invited unless it first faced prosecution for war crimes. It was the latest in a string of claims by each country that they are open to peace talks, only if terms are acceptable to the other.

Asked about whether they would invite Russia to the summit, he said that Moscow would first need to face prosecution for war crimes at an international court.

Kuleba revealed that the U.S. government made a special plan to get the battery ready to go when Zelenskyy was in the U.S. Usually, the training takes up to a year.

Kuleba said during an interview that the war will be won by Ukraine if they have the right attitude and diplomacy.

U.S. Mission to the Security Council after the Crimes of Crime during the World War II: The Role of Guterres

The United Nations would be the best place for this summit to be held, because it wouldn’t be about making a favor to a particular country. This is really about getting everyone on board.

About Guterres’ role, Kuleba said: “He has proven himself to be an efficient mediator and an efficient negotiator, and most importantly, as a man of principle and integrity. So we would welcome his active participation.”

“They regularly say that they are ready for negotiations, which is not true, because everything they do on the battlefield proves the opposite,” he said.

“This shows how both the United States are important for Ukraine, but also how Ukraine is important for the United States,” said Kuleba, who was part of the delegation to the U.S.

He said that the U.S. government developed a program for the missile battery to complete the training faster than usual “without any damage to the quality of the use of this weapon on the battlefield.”

Kuleba didn’t specify when it would be, but he did say that it would be less than six months. And he added that the training will be done “outside” Ukraine.

During Russia’s ground and air war in Ukraine, Kuleba has been second only to Zelenskyy in carrying Ukraine’s message and needs to an international audience, whether through Twitter posts or meetings with friendly foreign officials.

On Monday,Ukraine called on UN member states to strip Russia of its permanent membership on the Security Council and exclude it from the world body. Kulba said they had prepared for this step to uncover fraud and deprive Russia of its status.

The Foreign Ministry states that Russian didn’t go through the legal process for membership in the Security Council after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Kiev condemns the Russian attack on Ukraine: air defense and food security after the Ukrainian war onsleaves on Thursday, December 7 – December 16, 2016

“If the Russians thought that no one at home would be affected by the war, then they were deeply mistaken,” Colonel Ihnat said. He added that explosions at Russian airfields complicated the bombing campaign against Ukraine, forcing Moscow to relocate some of its aircraft, though no one is claiming that the strikes have seriously impeded the Russian barrage.

Russia’s onslaught on Thursday was aimed at the country’s electrical infrastructure, and knocked out power in several regions. Engineering crews were racing to restore services as the New Year’s holiday approaches this weekend.

Elsewhere in the capital, Halyna Hladka stocked up on water as soon as the sirens sounded and quickly made breakfast for her family so they would have something to eat. After nearly two hours, they heard the sounds of explosions. “It seemed to me that they were really close to our area but it turned out to be air defense,” she told CNN. “Not a single attack will cancel the fact that we will celebrate the new year with the family.”

Hryn said: “After the sirens gave the all clear, life in the capital went back to normal, with my neighbors and their child going to the cinema on time.” People went to work and parents went to school, despite holiday plans in defiance.

As the war looks set to stretch into another year, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday that Moscow will not negotiate with Kyiv on the basis of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s proposed 10-point peace formula, which includes Russia’s withdrawal from all Ukrainian territory, a path to nuclear safety, food security, a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes, and a final peace treaty with Moscow.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/29/europe/ukraine-russia-massive-missile-attack-intl/index.html

Russian missile attacks in Odesa: Ukrain’s missile attack and their implication to European security and defence policies, and a message to the German and US

Authorities in Odesa, in southern Ukraine, said that emergency power outages had been rolled out amid the missile attacks. “They are introduced due to the threat of missile attacks to avoid significant damage if the enemy manages to hit energy facilities,” DTEK, a utility company, said in a statement.

“Senseless barbarism.” Dmytro Kuleba said there could be no neutrality in the face of the new wave of attacks by Moscow on Ukrainian cities.

There were conflicting reports on the scale of the attacks. An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mykhailo Podolyak, said in an earlier post that Russia had launched more than 120 missiles in the barrage, without offering further details. He said the intent of the attack was to “destroy critical infrastructure and kill civilians en masse.”

Biden affirmed the new commitment in a telephone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday. Germany plans to send new fighting vehicles and a missile battery to fight off Russian air attacks.

The Bradley fighting vehicle, which moves on tracks rather than wheels, can hold around 10 troops and is used to transport personnel into battle. The White House said the US and Germany would teach Ukrainian forces how to use vehicles provided to them.

Zelensky’s Planck-Centrifugal: Towards a Long-Baseline Defense Planification for the Russian Revolution

Zelensky wanted those systems to allow his military to target Russian missiles at higher altitudes than they were previously able to target.