After months of doubts, delays or symbolic gestures to support Ukraine militarily in the face of the threat of RussiaWestern countries begin to send weapons to Kiev once the invasion begins.
With Ukrainian forces offering stiff resistance to the Russian advance, Western leaders recognize a genuine interest in ensuring that the president Vladimir Putin pay the ultimate price for invasion.
Germany was especially criticized the month before the invasion for sending 5,000 helmets to Ukraine, a gesture that left the mayor of Kiev, former world boxing champion Vitali Klichko, “speechless”. “What will they send us next? Pillows?” he told the Bild newspaper.
While diplomatic efforts were still alive to prevent conflict, France and other Western countries feared that the arms shipments could provoke Putin. But when the Kremlin leader launched the attack on February 24, the situation changed.
Germany said on Saturday that it would send Ukraine 1,000 anti-tank rocket launchers and 500 Stinger-type surface-to-air missiles, a 180-degree turn from its former policy of not exporting weapons to conflict zones.
France was also sending defensive weapons to Kiev, according to its armed forces. The Ukrainian embassy in Paris indicated that it had particularly requested anti-aircraft equipment.
And on Saturday night, the French presidency announced that it will send more fuel and military equipment to Ukraine, in addition to reinforcing economic sanctions against Russia.
the ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskythanked his counterpart Emmanuel Macron “for having responded to Ukraine’s requests for defensive military equipment,” the Elysee said.
“Antiwar Coalition”
The Ukrainian leader had indicated on Saturday that his “allies” were sending weapons to help Kiev fight Russian troops. “Weapons and equipment from our allies are on their way to Ukraine. The anti-war coalition is working!” he wrote.
And after the German announcement, he tweeted: “Let’s keep it up!”
They were not the only contributions.
Belgium announced the supply of 2,000 machine guns and 3,800 tons of fuel, the Netherlands the shipment of sniper rifles, helmets and soon 200 Stinger missiles; and the Czech Republic handed over 30,000 pistols, 7,000 assault rifles, 3,000 machine guns, several dozen sniper weapons and one million cartridges.
What’s more, United States will provide Ukraine with additional military equipment valued at 350 million dollars to counter Russia’s “brutal and unprovoked assault”, its Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, announced on Saturday.
Britain has said it is willing to provide more military support, including lethal defensive weapons.
But it is uncertain whether this wave of shipments can make a difference when, according to analysts, Moscow has not yet used even half of the some 180,000 troops deployed on Ukraine’s borders with Russia and Belarus.
“No time to lose”
Russia’s defense minister said on Saturday that his army had been ordered to expand its offensive against Ukraine “from all directions” after Kyiv refused to hold talks in Belarus.
The problem is that few “genuinely believed” in an invasion of all of Ukraine, “not even Zelensky,” said Gen. Vincent Desportes, a former director of France’s prestigious War College, which trained top officers.
Now “everyone does what they can” but “no one has trillions of additional weapons. All European armies are under-equipped,” he told AFP. “When you send 2,000 machine guns, you take them from your own arsenal. European armies are poor armies,” she insisted.
The diplomats in NATO headquarters They assure that there is an interest in slowing down the Russian advance and making the invasion costly for Putin.
A member of the French presidential office said a combination of Ukrainian resistance and sanctions against Russia could help force a ceasefire.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki criticized the lack of Western aid so far. The Ukrainians “are fighting for us, for our freedom, our sovereignty, so that we are not the next.”
“Russia wants to destroy our world as we know it. We have to act now. There is no time to lose,” he said.
