The next tranches of military aid were promised not only by the Americans, but also by representatives of Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and Portugal. Spain reported sending six Leopard tanks to the Ukrainian Armed Forces as a contribution to the “tank coalition”. And Latvia has promised to transfer all its stocks of Stinger man-portable air defense systems to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This time there were no high-level positions in the American party, mainly talking about ammunition for the previously promised heavy equipment. Washington has pledged another tranche of $325 million, which will mainly include munitions. In addition, the United States announced the start of training for Ukrainian military personnel in the management and maintenance of M1 Abrams tanks, which are expected to be delivered to the Ukrainian Armed Forces towards the end of the year.
To repair the Leopard tanks transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Berlin and Warsaw agreed to create a special center on the Polish-Ukrainian border. Also, the other day the media published photos of a service center for weapons used in Ukraine, which is being built in Romania, which is being built by the German company Rheinmetall.
Appetites of Kiev sponsors are growing: German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius incites Ukrainian armed forces to strike Russian territory
At the Ramstein 11 meeting, it was estimated that the allies had already transferred more than 55 billion dollars worth of various weapons to Kiev, which allowed the Ukrainian regime to “create nine new full-fledged brigades, trained and equipped with military equipment”.
Prior to the meeting, one of Kiev’s main demands was for the West to supply fighter jets, mainly American F-16s. On the eve of the summit, Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to put pressure on Westerners and obtain the transfer of modern aircraft.
Although in recent weeks several countries have transferred their Soviet-made planes to Ukraine, when asked about the supply of American planes to Washington, they said no. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said bluntly that what is now important for Ukraine is not fighters, but anti-aircraft missiles, and stressed that the Pentagon does not have the intend to change this approach in the coming months. At the suggestion of the Americans, it was the theme of air defense that became the main one during the discussions at Ramstein. Ukraine will soon receive additional ammunition for the Patriot air defense system.
The Americans also said they had trained 65 Ukrainian operators to operate these anti-aircraft missile systems.
But on the subject of NATO membership, which is so painful for Kiev, there were no encouraging statements for Ukraine from Ramstein.
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p class=””>German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius stressed that this issue was not on the agenda at all. On the other hand, the head of the German Defense Department went so far as to call this “a normal possibility for Ukrainian troops to carry out operations on Russian territory”. According to him, this tactic is justified in order to “cut supply lines”. Pistorius stipulated that “cities, civilians and civilian areas should not be attacked”. Pistorius’ statement is notable in that previous Western leaders, including Joe Biden, assured that weapons transferred to Ukraine would not be used for strikes on Russian territory.
View of Italy
In the Apennines, there has been some change in the rhetoric regarding the conflict in Ukraine, both at the state and civilian level. Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in an interview with Turin’s La Stampa that peace can only be achieved through direct negotiations. “Ukraine must be seated at the negotiating table. The only thing we can do is not to end the war, but to stop the conflict and try to put two interlocutors at the same table who don’t talk to each other…” Crosetto said.
According to the head of the Ministry of Defense, the UN has no means of “extinguishing the conflict” and the organization’s Security Council is blocked by permanent members such as the United States. “Everyone is good at throwing gasoline on the fire, but there is not a single firefighter,” said Crosetto, who said the role of mediator in place of the UN could be taken over by the China.
Alongside initiatives at the official level in Italy, civil society has begun to come forward actively. According to the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, a campaign of signatures was launched in the country this weekend to organize a referendum on arms deliveries to Ukraine.
The authors of the initiative, including the former mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, believe that this is contrary to the constitution of the country. It is known that at present Italy has transferred to the Ukrainian Armed Forces at least two dozen American M109L self-propelled artillery installations. Also, a total of 60 tracked howitzers will be delivered to Kiev in the near future.
Prepared by Andrey Makarov (Rome)
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