Ukraine could run out of missiles for its Soviet-made air defense systems by early May, giving Russia the chance to achieve air superiority in the country, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
The Journal cited some of the leaked US government documents that have appeared online. According to a Pentagon slide dated February 28, Ukraine could deplete its missiles for the Buk air defense system by April 13 and the S-300 system by May 3.
While the US and its allies have provided Ukraine with Western-made air defenses, Kyiv is still mainly reliant on its older Soviet-made equipment. According to a map from another Pentagon slide, if Ukraine depletes the systems, most of Ukraine’s infrastructure outside of Kyiv won’t have air defense protection.
The document said the number of unprotected critical sites will go from six to 40. Russia began large-scale bombardments of Ukrainian infrastructure in October 2022, causing Kyiv to deplete much of its air defense systems.
The document said Ukraine was also on track to run out of ammunition for some Western-provided air defense systems, including the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS). The latest US weapons package for Ukraine included ammunition for the NASAMS, but the munitions are being purchased for Kyiv, which means they could take months or years to be delivered.
The document suggested for a short-term solution, the US should procure more S-300 and Buk munitions for Ukraine, but most of the NATO states that possess the systems have already shipped what they have to Ukraine. A medium-term solution suggested would be to expedite the delivery of NASAMS, Patriots, and other Western systems.
In the long term, the document suggests delivering enough Western systems to cover the whole country. The leak could spur more calls in Washington and other Western capitals to send more arms to Ukraine.
US officials have told the media that the leaked documents are authentic, and the Biden administration appears to be scrambling to control the leak. According to CNN, the documents have revealed that the US is spying on Ukrainian President Vodlymyr Zelensky, and Ukrainian officials are frustrated with the leak.
Glenn Greenwald on his Rumble show tonight is postulating that the documents might be part of a disinformation campaign by the State Department.
He really isn’t impressed by what is shared and I must say what he showed did not appear that much different than some web pages. Some maps, some clip art, a few simple charts for dummies and of course some bullet points on what look like what could easily be outdated power points from a 10 year old government version of it.
The biggest one was the doctored one that inflated Ukraines losses from 2x’s the Russian one’s to 5x’s. ( yea! They are only troops losing 2 to 1 ;-).
“Doctored” says who? The US?
The swamp would never do that…..
Hi ZaSu:
Your name always makes me smile. 🙂
Back to the swamp. many things crawl in and out of the swamp. You never know what you’re gonna get………………………………………
The US is an arms dealer, why aren’t they keeping Zelensky supplied??
Those documents must have been intended for politicians.
Who else would need to be told (in short paragraphs with pictures) that Ukraine would run out of Russian ammo for their castoff weapons systems from Russia eventually?
Those documents sure look like they were made for dummies…..
Kind of like the colored charts that Pentagon officials had to have made by outside vendors to explain to President Trump what was happening. For the “stable genius”.
That is what I kept trying to remember what they resembled; prepared documents by underlings to get the suits up to speed on what is going on or what they want them to know.
Brief paragraphs with highlights, simple graphs (because we can’t have them too complicated for the bozos) and it needs some good photos because if the words confuse them, pictures will help.
Those multi-star Generals aren’t the brightest…..
Some of those documents are standard presentations briefed to Defense Leaders and its Component Commanders that need to know the status of their forces and equipment so they can adequately affect their war plans that include but not limited to, allocation of capabilities, rotation of forces, schedule resupplies, general support etc.
It was so “nice” we got to know we need to get new weapons systems there soon because they are about to run out of ammo for their Russian systems.
We also are going to stop Egypt’s upcoming transfer now and that 2 to 1 kill ratio doesn’t look so bad now that we proved the 5 to 1 was fake…..
The Russians also now know those satellites parked over Ukraine are really spying on stuff and we really are tracking cell phones….as if they didn’t know that….
We also got to hear that we do have a few troops in country training and we got the satisfaction of embarrassing Macron by sharing he does too right after his trip to China.
Yes, make sure you pass that information to the Kremlin please. Give them a hand, looks like they need it.
A tad fresh DJ. But good to see you. 🙂
Once again loony; both sides are criminals but only one side has Nazi battalions .
Perhaps that’s why you side with the Ukrainians?
Well, Russia has significantly more Neo Nazi groups than Ukraine. Putin even has a picture with one of them in the Kremlin. Start your research with Wagner group. Perhaps you will learn something new today and realize the Entire de-Nazification of Ukraine objective was just a pretext for War. Also, if these Nazi Battalions were so dangerous, why did Putin release about 200 of them from Azov last year during a prisoner exchange. Take your Nazi BS elsewhere.
Ukrainian Nazi Battalions are an integral part of their military structure in the disputed areas.
If you want to support those criminals over the Russian ones then you have to take them.
NATO and Victoria Nuland pushed clear to Putin’s border and now he’s pushed them back, established his buffer and then once the Ukrainian spring offensive fails as that “leak” shares it will, Ukraine will decide to talk and see how much money China will give it to rebuild (and embezzle).
Do you mindlessly accept everything the neocons/State Department tell you to believe or is this war just a special case?
You sure seem to trust everything Biden and his friends tell you to believe……
Never mind what I said, just stick to your Kremlin propaganda. It appears to be very credible.
Do you work for the State Department perhaps?
Or is it because you just believe them fully because they never lie to us?
Do you burn candles at the alter of John Kirby or is it Victoria Nuland that’s your idol?
Let’s just say I’m not Anti US and I fully support Ukraine’s right to fight for its independence and freedom. I’m fully against Putin’s personal war in Ukraine to steal land for power, profit, and control.
Then you support Victoria Nuland’s comedian who is the head of that State Department run country and believe every lie she and Biden tell you to believe.
Did you believe the Bushes too?
They had some swell wars that they told us to support too.
“Let’s just say I’m not Anti US”
Don, you have said yourself that you have, and do, oppose parts of our foreign policy, Vietnam for instance. Why are others, who do the same, “Anti US”?
Could it be that having NATO pushing clear to the historical route that both Napoleon and Hitler used to invade Russia was a complete nonstarter with Putin?
The US got really upset over missiles in Cuba and airfields in Nicaragua that could support USSR bombers but Putin is to lay down as Ukraine broke agreements (those Nazi Battalians had almost free rein prior to the war), lobbed missiles and literally wanted to join NATO and were their b itch while trying to become a member (remember Victoria Nuland put him into office so he is almost a State Department underling to her).
but Putin is not allowed to push back?
Did you know that Seymour Hersh released a new investigation on the comedian’s embezzlement? It seems we are paying $400 a gallon for diesel that he’s buying at a discount……from Russia. He has several more tidbits about the corruption that the comedian is involved with.
Interesting how the word “could” appears with such frequency in posts about Ukraine.
Kyiv is still mainly reliant on its older Soviet-made equipment.
they didn’t seem to have any problem hosting bioweapons labs though
Thank you Victoria Nuland for letting the knowledge of those labs slip out of your ugly face.
Ugliness is soul deep.
I’ve made it a point ever since the early 1960’s to disbelieve everything coming from my government that relates to “national security”. I see no reason to treat this latest fart any differently.
https://media0.giphy.com/media/vQqeT3AYg8S5O/giphy.gif
Shortage? May run out? Lack of readiness/resources may prevent/impair counteroffensive?
This corroborates what’s been said or hinted at by analyists across the political spectrum vs adding anything really new, far as I can tell…
This sounds more like a deliberate leak by the Pentagon/Biden admin/MIC.
Designed to get the western masses to call for their leaders to give more AA weapons systems to Ukraine.
Especially, brand new, western systems like NASAMS (which is basically just a ground-based version of – predominantly – the AIM-120 AMRAAM, radar-guided, anti-aircraft missiles that are mounted on many, western fighters).
The informed opinion appears to be that this was leaked by somebody at the Pentagon who is unhappy about the reckless behavior of the Neocons at the State Department, which could get us all killed in a nuclear war. In other words, the motivation of the person who informed Seymour Hersh about the NordStream sabotage, or the motivation Dan Ellsberg had when he leaked the Pentagon papers about the Vietnam war. The whistle blower wants to warn us about getting deeper into a hopeless war and a very dangerous escalation.
The leaks make it clear that Ukraine cannot win: not enough ammunition, not enough SAMs, not enough trained troops, too many KIA, no hope of launching a successful counter offensive. All of that appears common sense, but our leaders have been telling us the opposite to keep the weapons and money flowing. Perhaps this was even leaked with the blessing of Marc Milley since he said that “Ukraine has achieved what it can achieve” after Ukrainian forces took back some territory in the Kharkov and Kherson regions last year. Some in the military clearly don’t want this war to escalate.
The charts appear to be collated from a number of different sources and contain a mixed bag of information, some of it credible, some completely absurd. They are photographs from a paper copy since every electronic copy can be traced. I guess, unless somebody can trace the digital camera, it should be impossible to figure out who took those pictures, since hundreds or even thousands of people might have had access.