The US and its NATO allies are sending weapons into Ukraine from an undisclosed airfield near the Ukrainian border in Eastern Europe, CNN reported on Monday.
An unnamed senior Pentagon official told CNN that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley visited the airfield last week and examined the shipment activity. It’s not clear where the base is, but last week, Western officials told the Economist that one of the main routes to deliver weapons into Ukraine is via the Polish-Ukrainian border.
Since the weapons being sent into Ukraine are meant to kill Russian troops, there are fears that Russia might target the deliveries. The Pentagon official told CNN that so far, the Russians haven’t targeted the shipments.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, 14 countries have pledged to send weapons to Ukraine. Another US official told CNN that the US and its allies have sent Ukraine 17,000 anti-tank missiles and 2,000 stinger anti-aircraft missiles.
Demonstrating the speed at which these arms are being shipped, the official said that the “vast majority” of a $350 million US military aid package that was announced on February 26 had already been delivered. As of Friday, $240 million of the package had reached Ukraine.
Despite the risk of provoking Russia, the Biden administration is determined to send even more advanced weaponry into Ukraine and has given the green light to Poland to transfer Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. In exchange, the US would replace the planes Poland gives to Ukraine with US-made fighter jets.
The plan to give Ukraine the MiG-29s has support in Congress. On Monday, Senator Bob Menendez (D-NY), the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin calling for the US to commit to replacing any Polish planes sent to Ukraine with US-made ones.
Try to keep up.
Poland Still Isn’t Interested In Transferring Its MiG-29s To Ukraine
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/44608/poland-still-isnt-interested-in-transferring-its-mig-29s-to-ukraine
For some reason it is hard for me to believe Poland’s assurances that their leaders maintain some sensibility or credibility. They act as if they’ve never seen a war with Russia that they didn’t like.
Yes, I would say there is a risk of them lying. But, it makes sense. Why would any country send its air force to another country on the promise of a third country to replace theirs with jets their pilots are not trained to fly? Makes no sense at all. This is a PR stunt by Blinken.
“Poland says it’s “ready to deploy – immediately and free of charge – all their MIG-29 jets to the Ramstein Air Base and place them at the disposal of the [US].”
Poland is ready to “immediately establish the conditions of purchase” of 2nd-hand replacement aircraft from the US.”
What are we to make of this ?
It’s called passing the buck. Blinken just had it handed back to him
That is the story of the entire war. That is how it started, so of course that is how it would continue.
This thinking is what makes it Biden’s War, instead of Putin’s War. When someone is cornered, the one who does that is the initiator.
Blinken must try to cover up a disasterous meeting with UK, Germany and Netherlandds on oil, it
was loud, with Johnson loudest of all. Europe will not follow.
It is true, US imports a lots of Russian oil, so short term it will hurt Russia. But in medium term, Russia will have customers. Shell and others loose profitable joint ventures. Our gas prices go up,
What if Iran does not come to rescue with its oil — unless US drops sanctions, and only in limited quantities, as it already promised it to others?
What if Saudis come to rescue under condition US driops its aspirations on controlling Bab Al-Mandeb, ending Yemen war? No more threat to Red Sea shipping , threatening Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Egypt,
Venezuela may sell, provided US drop recognition of Guaido, drop sanctions,
In the meantime, we are told to sacrifice for the cause of freedom? Really? For decades of Cold War we offered the lifeline to defeated Nazis and their offspring — rebranding them as anticommunists! . They were the core of “dissidents” whose activities, newspapers, forums we funded. After the fall of communism they got rewards. Core of ALL East European leadership
came. from those activist. Many of them, US citizens lobbied fervently for the rehabilitation of their past, some proudly making it to White House influential post. This is true of Croatia, Poland, Rumania, Bulgaria, and all three Baltic states. True in Finland as well, only their neutralitu prevented them from being prominent.
If you are wondering why those Easr Europeanx hate Russia now you know. For those reborn anti-communists, Soviet Union defeatef Hitler, and they were besten in their efforts to be Hitler’s rear gusrd when Germans retreated. Only in Estonia Soviets lost about 200,000 soldiers before cutting through to fight Germans. Now, they can freely abuse Russians who hsplen to be their citizens. No wonder they ar nervous in Baltics, and need American soldiers. Whose fathers and grandfatherd probably fought Nazis, Whst a rich irony.
In Ukraine, with our help, the pro-Hitler region of Galucia in Poland’s border, has essentially dominated Kyev government since 2014, Their Nazi formations became incorporated into Armed forces. With the job to control
majority of Orthodox Christian Ukrainians and Russians that happen to be a MAJORITY in Eastern and
Southern Ukraine.
So. the towns you hear about, Kharkov, Sumy. Mariupol, Hersom, Odessa -. are towns with Russian or pro-Russian populatiom. The “defenders”. are not letting them go. In Mariupol, Azov Brigade is fighting to keep this only port in Aziv Sea in their.hands. Would love if population dies. That is why humanitarian corridors are shot at.
But now that evacuees can chose to go to either Russia and Belarus or Lviv, Zhitomir. This will allow the militants to return to their region.
What will be the outcome, hard to say what the terms of capitulation will be. But the towns in question will definitely be de-nazified. The longer it takes to come to terms, the worse for Ukraine.
Unless they have some guarantees NATO will get involved. It does not look like at this point,
Russia has cut off thei access to Back Sea, surrounded their forcess un the east, surrounded major cities, destroyed theer military asset. NATO must have realized by now that there js no residtance anywhere to harreas Russian troups. And hey must know that “resistance “ in cities are Nazi brigades hostile to people in those cities.
It remains to be sern if the mercenary teams promissed from various countries have arrived.
This Thursday will be telliing. Tirkey hosting foreign ministers from Ukraine and Russia.
When your friend is in a fight and you give him a gun to shoot the other guy, it’s accessory to murder.
If you give the gun to another guy expressly in exchange for him giving your friend a gun to shoot with, it’s of course also accessory to murder.
This is the same thing. Washington is committing an act of war, as is Poland. U.S. law forbids giving weapons to a country at war without Congress voting on it, but I guess they claim that having a middleman is a workaround. Regardless, Russia now has cause for war against NATO, which is attacking Russian troops.
And before that, Washington was sending arms to Ukraine to bomb homes, schools and administrative buildings in Donetsk and Lugansk. If the media were honest they would show the pictures of the destroyed buildings. Ukraine’s coup regime amassed 60,000 conscripts on the border last fall to invade. Russia has more cause to protect the Donbass region than Washington had to bomb Serbia to bits, to hand over Kosovo to a flood of illegal aliens from Albania and their drug-smuggling, children-killing UCK terrorist group.