Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned of the possibility of the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine as a result of the delivery of military arsenal by the United States and Europe to the Ukrainian ruler Volodimir Zelensky.
“It is potentially very dangerous, this would mean that the conflict goes to a new level that, of course, does not bode well for European security,” said the Russian President after learning about the shipment of tanks by European countries and the North American nation. to Ukraine.
M1 Abrams (USA), Leopard 2 (Germany, Poland and Canada) and Challenger (United Kingdom) are the names that resounded in the world press that highlighted the military support for Ukraine by the West, an action that includes sending 63 of tanks, 31 from the United States, 14 from Germany, 14 from Poland, 4 from Canada and 14 from the United Kingdom.
Despite the fact that this delivery only covers 25% of the “at least 300” that the Ukrainian government has requested, as pointed out by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, President Zelensky celebrated the action by pointing it out like “a victory”.
“It is an important step towards victory. Today, the free world is united like never before with a common goal: the liberation of Ukraine, ”wrote the Ukrainian ruler on his account on the social network Twitter.
feeding an illusion
Currently in the world there are at least 73,000 combat tanks, of which Russia has no less than 12,000 in its military arsenal, representing just over 16% of the existing tanks on the planet, according to Global Firepower Index.
This number of tanks in the hands of the Russian armed forces is almost double that of the United States, which has 5,500, and at least seven times the number of tanks in the Ukrainian military arsenal, which of its 1,890 are in operational condition just over 1,300.
In the case of Germany (312) and the United Kingdom (386), the Russian armed forces possess 58 times as many tanks as these European nations combined.
This numerical reality has been pointed out by Russia to show that the deliveries of arms by these countries will not be a variable that changes the course of the current conflict in favor of Ukraine.
“These deliveries (of tanks) will not change anything (…) they will create new problems for Ukraine,” said the spokesman for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov, who accused the US, Germany and Britain of feeding the illusion of a possible Ukrainian victory.
«The importance of the delivery of these types of weapons must not be exaggerated nor their ability to change anything (…). This will not change anything in terms of the progress of the Russian side, ”he specified while warning that these actions mean a direct involvement of these countries in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
fractured europe
This warning of the consequences that this support for the Ukrainian armed forces could have for Western countries has generated fractures within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) because several of its members have spoken out against these shipments.
Among the NATO members that have refused to arm Ukraine is Hungary, whose Defense Minister, Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky, in a meeting with his Austrian counterpart, Klaudia Tanner, agreed not to participate in this action, warning that “the greatest danger is that the war spreads to the rest of Europe.
Meanwhile, Spain, Norway and the Netherlands have raised the possibility of joining this initiative called for by Zelenski, while France, one of the military powers of Europe, limits itself to pointing out that it “does not rule it out”, but has decided not to be part of it. of this first wave.
Along with these announcements of support and rejection, the Ukrainian president, after obtaining a positive response to his clamor for tanks, has decided to promote a campaign for these countries to provide him with fighter-type combat aircraft, obtaining a “no” response. just as it happened in the first instance when months ago they requested the battle tanks that would soon arrive in their territory.
Latin America said “No”
These discrepancies within NATO to supply Ukraine with weapons have highlighted Latin America, which, until now, has remained on the sidelines of this conflict under the premise of promoting dialogue and peace.
“(Laura) Richardson (Commander of the US Armed Forces’ Fourth Fleet) and other people from the United States, they asked me to solve the problem of our inability to sustain these active elements (Russian weapons) handed them over and that they would take them to Ukraine and I told them that no Russian weapon, even if it is useless in our land today, is going to be used today in that conflict,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro revealed during the meeting of heads of state and of Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac), held in Buenos Aires Argentina on January 24 of this year.
This revelation by the New Granada president brought up this issue in the region where presidents have spoken out pointing out their refusal of this request by the United States and Europe, which have launched their diplomatic artillery to seek support in Latin America, such as the visit of the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to Argentina, Chile and Brazil.
“Argentina and Latin America are not considering sending weapons to Ukraine or any other place in conflict,” emphasized Alberto Fernández, Argentine president and pro-tempore president of Celac until January 2023 at a press conference he gave together with the German chancellor.
For his part, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, although he did not categorically deny this possibility, told Scholz that his country will “always defend multilateralism, the peaceful resolution of conflicts and the validity of human rights.”
The unsuccessful efforts of the German chancellor to push Latin America as part of the conflict came to an end in Brazil, where President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva finished placing the mark of failure on this intention by ruling that his country, which possesses the best-endowed armed forces in the region, would not send weapons to Ukraine.
“Brazil has no interest in ceding ammunition to be used in the war between Ukraine and Russia. Brazil is a country of peace. At this moment we need to find those who want peace, a word that until now has been used very little, “he said.
The anti-war position assumed by the leaders of the region, which arises despite the discrepancies between support or condemnation of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, has meant a brake on the globalization strategy of this conflict undertaken by the United States and Europe as part of the actions aimed at preventing the emergence of the new world order that points to the end of the hegemony of the north over the south and the birth of a multipolar world.
