Weapons supplied by Western countries to Ukraine are increasingly designed for attack rather than defense. On Monday, February 20, the newspaper wrote about this The New York Times (NYT).
“Weapons worth tens of billions of dollars have been delivered to Ukraine from the countries of Europe and North America. At first, these countries insisted that these weapons were “defensive” weapons, meant only to help Ukraine defend itself. A year later, the type of weapons sent to Ukraine has changed dramatically,” the article notes.
Armored vehicles, long-range missiles and modern tanks are now being supplied from the West, the authors of the article point out.
Starting in the spring of 2022, shipments to Ukraine began to include more weapons designed for offense rather than defense, the article claims.
“In successive batches, since the spring of last year, Poland has donated more than 200 tanks. Some of them were former Soviet T-72s. Others were local variants of the same Soviet type,” the authors noted.
These tanks were among the first evidence of a transition to the supply of offensive weapons from foreign states. This shift accelerated over the summer when the United States and other allies began sending armored personnel carriers.
Soon, the authors write, new and better cars followed. The UK has provided 14 of its Challenger 2 tanks. The US has offered 31 of the latest M-1A2 tanks.
Germany belatedly approved the transfer of about a dozen German-made Leopard 2 tanks by Poland, signaling to other European countries that they could do the same. Then Germany offered Ukraine about a dozen of its tanks.
“Now Ukraine will have the opportunity to play in attack, using one of the best weapons in the world. This means that the stakes for all parties have increased significantly,” the authors summed up.
On February 21, during his speech to the Federal Assembly, the head of the Russian state, Vladimir Putin, called Moscow’s retaliatory step in the event of the supply of long-range weapons to Kyiv. According to him, the more long-range ammunition will come to Ukraine, the further Russia will be forced to move Ukrainian troops away from its borders.
On February 10, The Times newspaper reported that Kyiv was ready to use British long-range missiles to strike at Crimea. A source in the Ukrainian defense ministry confirmed that Kyiv is working on such a scenario. At the moment, negotiations are underway on the number of missiles that the UK is ready to supply to Ukraine, the newspaper added.
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, during a briefing on February 10, said that the package of military assistance from the United States announced on February 3 for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is pushing Kyiv to commit war crimes. She also stressed that the financial assistance announced by Brussels to Kyiv will be spent on the “slaughter”.
Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Kyiv against the backdrop of a special operation of the Russian Federation to protect Donbass, the decision on which was made against the backdrop of aggravation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.
