Russia has issued a statement on the “recent” supply of weapons to Ukraine by NATO countries. The statement is issued as Russian President Vladimir Putin Thursday authorised military action against Russia’s neighbour citing violation of human rights of pro-Russian people in that country. The move was condemned by several Western powers including the U.S., the U.K., France and Germany who say Russia’s aggression was uncalled for and that President Putin and his country must pay a huge price. Pindula News presents the statement in full below:
Recent Supplies of Weapons to Ukraine by NATO Countries
(background paper)
Starting from the beginning of the year to the end of the second decade of February, nearly fifty military transport aircraft from various countries – USA, Great Britain, Canada, Poland, and Lithuania – landed in Ukraine. In a joint statement of Ukrainian Defence Minister A. Reznikov and the head of the Ukrainian Armed Forces V. Zaluzhny on February 14 this year, it was noted that last month Ukraine received 2,000 tons of advanced weapons, ammunition and protective equipment.
In December 2021, U.S. President Biden approved a $200 million package of additional military assistance for Ukraine. It includes anti-tank systems, grenade launchers, firearms, a large amount of ammunition and other equipment. Overall, according to the State Department, since 2014 the U.S. has committed $2.7 billion in military assistance to Ukraine ($650 million in 2021). It is planned to transfer to Ukraine Mi-17 helicopters originally destined for Afghanistan. The Americans have allowed their allies to supply U.S.-made weapons and equipment to Ukraine. The White House threatens to reinforce the NATO military grouping in Eastern Europe with 8,500 American troops. On February 16-17 this year, at the meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence, the head of the Pentagon L. Austin announced the deployment of the units of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division to Poland, relocation of the U.S. contingent from Germany to Romania and the sending of 125 U.S. servicemen on Stryker combat vehicles from Germany to Bulgaria to participate in the exercises.
On February 8 this year, the U.S. National Security Council (NSC) agreed to the Pentagon’s proposal to provide an emergency military aid package to Kiev. This includes urgent deployment to Ukraine from February 14 to February 20 this year of 40 instructors from the U.S. Department of Defense on sabotage and guerrilla operations, 20 specialists on anti-tank weapons, and 15 – on counter-battery warfare.
It is also planned that a group of experts will arrive in Ukraine this February to work together with the representatives of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence with a view to developing proposals on how to quickly improve the effectiveness of the air defence system. The possibility of transfer to Ukraine of two batteries (4 launchers each) of MIM-104C (PAC-2) PATRIOT air defence system from the storage sites of the U.S. Armed Forces is being considered. It is also planned to donate to Ukraine a batch of counter-battery radars from storage depots: 12 AN/TPQ-36 and 24 AN/TPQ-48. The NSC also preliminarily approved the acquisition by the Ukrainian side (at the price of transportation and repair) of two Cyclone-class patrol crafts withdrawn from the U.S. Navy.
Great Britain is increasing the number of its troops deployed in Eastern Europe as part of NATO’s forward presence. Since February 17, its contingent in Estonia doubled to 1,630 soldiers and its contingent in Poland increased by 3.5 times to 490 soldiers. Moreover, London has recently transferred over 2,000 anti-tank weapons to Kiev.
In addition, B. Johnson announced the deployment of two EUROFIGHTER TYPHOON fighters to Romania, and the transfer of 1,000 troops to the NATO Response Force reserve for rapid deployment in case of a “humanitarian crisis” on the eastern borders of the bloc. Four more fighters of this type, as well as the patrol ship HMS Trent and the destroyer HMS Diamond are being redeployed to the eastern Mediterranean.
The Canadian Defence Ministry announced its intention to transfer pistols, sniper rifles, machine guns, as well as 1.5 million cartridges to Ukraine.
The government of Poland approved the delivery of MANPADS, ammunition and drones to Ukraine.
Estonia announced its plans to supply to Ukraine the 122-mm howitzers D-30 manufactured back in the Soviet Union, which had previously been located in the GDR (after the reunification of Germany, Berlin handed them over to Finland in the 1990s, which, in turn, handed them over to Estonia in 2009). However, according to the Wall Street Journal, German authorities do not allow Tallinn to supply weapons of German origin.
On February 18 this year, the Government of the Netherlands decided to transfer to Ukraine 3,000 helmets, 2,000 bullet-proof vests, 30 metal detectors, two portable underwater sapper robots, 100 sniper rifles and 30,000 ammunition cartridges, five counter-battery radars and two radar locators for monitoring the situation on the battlefield. It declared its readiness to expand the medical program for the rehabilitation of the Ukrainian military, as well as to transfer 5 million euros to the NATO Trust Fund for Ukraine.
On February 10 this year, during her visit to Kiev, Lithuanian Prime Minister I. Šimonytė announced the delivery of a batch of Stinger MANPADS to Ukraine free of charge (according to available estimates, there may be 10 sets of 5-7 rounds each), as well as an increase in the number of Lithuanian military instructors in Ukraine. On February 15, a group of military specialists from the Baltic republic arrived in Ukraine to train local servicemen to work with the Stingers.
In October 2021, during interdepartmental consultations of the Ministries of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and France, contracts were signed for the supply to Kiev of object surveillance systems, non-lethal ammunition of various assortment and simulators for training UAV operators. This year it is planned to sign additional agreements on the sale of H-135, H-145 and H-225 multi-purpose helicopters to Ukraine. A draft agreement has been prepared on the creation of a Pleiades Neo platform-based imagery intelligence satellite in Kiev’s interests. The possibility of allocating up to 100 million euros to Ukraine for modernizing the ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol, airfields and railway infrastructure in the southeast of the country is under consideration.