11th anniversary. What kind of help will Ukraine get from another Ramstein

Berlin suddenly supported the expediency of the operations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the territory of Russia, пишет Vladyslav Girman, an observer of the international policy department of "DS".

US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov

Exactly an hour ago, the first meeting of the Contact Group on the Defense of Ukraine, as a unified military advisory body, was held at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany. This format has repeatedly proven its effectiveness in helping Ukraine confront Russia. And now the representatives of about 50 countries of the world gathered again at the next, already the 11th, "Ramstein" to discuss the urgent needs of Ukraine.

This time there were three themes defining the event, that is, setting the tone of the meeting.

Attacks and disputes over ammunition

First of all, this is, of course, support with weapons for both defense and offense. Details regarding the latter are not disclosed for obvious reasons. And it is characteristic that at the current meeting of the Contact Group, the specific quantity and nomenclature of weapons and equipment were not actually made public.

It is known, for example, that the USA included missiles for HIMARS, 325-mm and 105-mm missiles for artillery in the new $155 million aid package; anti-tank weapons and ammunition: AT-4 complexes, TOW guided missiles, mines, 9 million cartridges for small arms, high-precision aviation ammunition, equipment and transport for logistical support.

In a new $29 million package, Canada provides ammunition, 40 Prairie Gun Works caliber 50 sniper rifles, 16 radio stations for Leopard 2 and a contribution to the NATO fund for assistance to Ukraine. Finland provides equipment worth 78 million euros for the training of the Ukrainian military within the framework of the EUMAM Ukraine program.

In addition, according to AP, a decision was made to begin 10-week training of Ukrainians on Abrams tanks at the end of May at the Grafenwer training ground in Germany.

In principle, here are all the specifics. In addition, at the end of the meeting, US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin made a definite summary of Ramstein's year of work, noting that during this time Ukraine received aid in the amount of more than $55 billion (of which $35 billion from the United States), as well as 230 tanks, 1550 BBM , equipment and ammunition to support more than nine new armored brigades. This is about the offensive that everyone was waiting for.

As for the planes, there is still no solution, and our partners have stated this directly. In particular, Austin noted that now the priority directions are an even greater strengthening of Ukrainian air defense and the purchase of ammunition.

However, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov also confidently reported that the provision of modernized versions of fourth-generation combat aircraft will be the next stage of the negotiations, as well as the definition of the main Western-made aircraft for the future Ukrainian Air Force.

The purchase of ammunition, which was mentioned by the participants of the meeting, is a real issue. Especially since here we have certain problems due to the blocking by Paris of the project of joint supply of shells to Ukraine, for which Brussels previously allocated 1 billion euros. In particular, due to the shortage of ammunition and production capacity, a proposal was currently put forward to find the necessary shells in third countries and compensate them with weapons from the warehouses of EU member states, however, as reported by PAP, this did not appeal to the French armed companies, which would like to receive a share of this billion.

Now our partners in Europe are trying to solve the problem. For example, Poland puts a lot of pressure on France. Sweden, which now presides over the Council of Europe, has proposed a fairly promising compromise - a project that would keep these funds within the EU, but offers to purchase components in third countries, the shortage of which is observed in Europe, for the production of ammunition. It is quite likely that France will accept this proposal.

Moreover, the general tonality of the declared support for Ukraine is as follows — it must grow, and deliveries must be accelerated.

Unity and integration

The second defining topic for the meeting was the recent leak of secret documents of the US Department of Defense. It turned out, let us remind you, that the culprit was a 21-year-old junior specialist of the Air Force of the Massachusetts National Guard, Jack Teishera, who shared these files with his online friends with the aim of defeating them, and then some of them were distributed on other resources, and some of them were used by the Kremlin in its IPSO against Ukraine and allies.

Despite the publicity, the documents that got into the network, for the most part, did not contain any super-sensitive or extraordinary information. The damage was largely reputational for the USA. And that is why Austin did not hide his relief in Germany because the allies chose consolidation, not discord.

And, finally, the third topic is, of course, the integration of Ukraine into NATO, which was reinforced in the media by the Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, during yesterday's visit to Kyiv.

As expected, our allies see Ukraine in the Alliance (except for Viktor Orban), but in the future — after the victory, as, for example, the German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius noted.

It is clear that no one can outline specific terms, because it is not known when this very victory will be. However, NATO is on course for further adaptation and strengthening after the accession of Finland and, obviously, intends to put an end to the question of Sweden's integration, which is illustrated by Austin's first visit to this country on April 19.

As for Ukraine and the current situation, the steps taken by the allies towards us are possible and real — increasing the chances of approval of security guarantees in the form of The Kyiv Security Compact at the NATO summit in Vilnius. This is the first. The second is that Berlin, as Borys Pistorius told Ramstein, considers the operations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the territory of Russia to be quite acceptable, for example, to cut the enemy's supply routes.

And this is a very important statement that seemed impossible a few months ago. It was the fear of provoking Russia that Ukraine would be able to "strike" on its territory, which was an argument against providing us with longer-range weapons, including missiles. If Pistorius voices the opinion of the majority of the allies, this is another cardinal break in the positions of Europe and NATO, which may indicate a readiness to provide us with the above-mentioned missiles.

Paradoxically, a letter to the White House from 18 Republican legislators from the House of Representatives and the Senate, including Trumpists and, for example, Rand Paul, who spoke out against anti-Russian sanctions and traveled to Moscow, can be a partial confirmation of this. In this letter, they reduce everything to the fact that the supply of weapons to Ukraine must be stopped, because it contributes to the continuation of the war and increases the risk of a direct collision between the United States and the Russian Federation. However, it contains a much more interesting mention of long-range weapons. Congressmen and senators criticize the administration's last year's decision to provide Ukraine with HIMARS and add that they observe US preparations for the transfer of weapons with an even greater range of defeat to Ukraine.

Therefore, although, we expect, this "Ramstein" did not bring us positive decisions regarding NATO membership or the provision of fighters, it and the accompanying meetings demonstrated the readiness of the partners to intensify support for the sake of victory on the battlefield.

Read also on Newsky "Integration and compromise. Why did Stoltenberg come to Kyiv" and look at Boring Pence YouTube channel.

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