Why the Biden Administration Is Giving New, Heavier Weapons to Ukraine

Shocking footage of the destruction of Mariupol 0:44 (CNN) — For the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US is providing Kyiv with the kind of high-power capabilities that some officials in the Biden administration viewed as a risk of escalation a few weeks ago. The $800 million list is due not only to direct requests from Ukraine, but also to the preparation of a new kind of fight in the open plains of southeastern Ukraine, right next to Russia, terrain that plays in Ukraine’s favor. Russia’s natural military advantages. The new weapons package represents the clearest sign to date that the war in Ukraine is changing, and with it the weapons that Ukraine will need if it hopes to continue to hamper a Russian army that has regrouped and resupplyed after its initial failures in the first weeks of the war. The Biden administration announced that the new package included 11 Mi-17 helicopters that had initially been destined for Afghanistan, 18 more 155mm Howitzer cannons and 300 Switchblade drones, as well as radar systems capable of tracking incoming fire and locating its origin. . Shocking footage of the destruction of Mariupol 0:44This package differs from previous security assistance in part because this tranche includes more sophisticated and heavier weaponry than previous shipments. A US official tells CNN that’s by design, arguing that because Russia, which failed to capture Kyiv, has changed its strategy to concentrate forces in eastern Ukraine, the US is changing its own strategy in what it gives it. to Ukraine. “The profiles of what they need are very different,” the US official said. The newly authorized package was announced days after National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley spent more than two hours on the phone with their Ukrainian counterparts to review the requests. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also spoken with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov twice in the past week. Reznikov provided an update on the situation on the ground, allowing Austin to determine which weapons Ukraine needed most. Biden broke the news of the aid package during a 58-minute phone call with Zelensky from the Oval Office on Wednesday. There was one item that Zelensky asked Biden for directly: Mi-17 helicopters. According to a source familiar with the matter, the helicopters had not initially been included in the package since Tuesday night because US officials were unclear whether the Ukrainians wanted or needed them at the time. This Wednesday, Zelensky clarified to the president that they did need them. A bit like Kansas The weaponry being provided is focused on the kind of combat likely to take place in the Donbas region, open terrain rather than the urban and forested close quarters that have occurred around Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. The region also borders southwestern Russia, allowing Russian forces to avoid the kind of sustenance, logistics, and communication problems that derailed their full invasion of the country almost from the start. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Wednesday that the package was tailored to fighting in Donbas, a topography he described as “a bit like Kansas.” “It’s a little flatter. It’s a little more open. And it’s the kind of place where we can anticipate that the Russians will want to use tanks and long-range fire, artillery and rockets to achieve some of their objectives before engaging the Russians.” ground troops,” Kirby said. The new weapons package, Kirby added, was “very much an effort to give the Ukrainians every possible advantage in this coming fight.” The Biden administration has faced bipartisan pressure to do more to help Ukraine, particularly in calls for more powerful weapons. But the administration resisted for weeks, wary of how Russian President Vladimir Putin would respond with his forces already deployed. Officials warned the Kremlin might view it as an escalation or an indication that the United States was joining the fight. The problem was most noticeable with the MiG-29 fighter jets requested by Ukraine. The administration refused to participate in a transfer of the Soviet-era planes from a third country to Ukraine via the United States, rejecting a proposal from Poland. The United States was concerned, Kirby said on March 9, that “the transfer of fighter jets at this time could be mistaken by Mr. Putin and the Russians as an escalation step.” Much of the internal concern was over the proposal to fly them to Ukraine from a NATO airbase. Now the rhetoric of the Biden administration seems to have changed along with the scope of the war. As the United States prepares to send the kind of weapons it has not sent since the invasion began, the Pentagon insisted this was part of the US commitment “from the beginning” to help Ukraine defend itself. “How the Russians interpret it, you can ask Mr Putin and the Kremlin,” Kirby said Wednesday. Opposing positions between Ukraine and Russia on Mariupol 0:35 Ukraine asks for more and better weapons For weeks, Zelensky pleaded with world leaders for more weapons and equipment. In March, he spoke to the parliaments of 17 countries, as well as three international organizations. He never strayed from his main message: Ukraine needs more weapons. He asked Congress for new air defense systems to help defend the skies over Ukraine. He requested 1% of NATO tanks and planes to fight Russian forces. And he asked Belgium for more weapons, warning that if Ukraine loses, the European Union loses. But their requests for increased firepower went largely unanswered. For the most part, countries sent more ammunition for small arms, anti-armor and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as protective and medical equipment. Now, with Russian forces preparing for a massive assault on the Donbas region, the tide is turning.
“The envelope of what people are willing to provide has grown considerably in the last couple of weeks,” the US official said. Once the Ukrainian forces were able to contain the Russian invasion during the first days, he put the security assistance options “very quickly in a different place”. Slovakia provided Ukraine with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. The Czech Republic sent T-72 tanks. The United Kingdom announced that it would send 120 armored vehicles to Ukraine. And now the United States has authorized a series of new and more powerful weapons. In a show of coordinated aid to Ukraine, the European Union announced it would provide another $544 million in aid on the same day the White House authorized its own $800 million. The Pentagon says it is working as quickly as possible The package announced on Wednesday marked the first time the United States had provided Ukraine with howitzer guns. Kirby said several systems would require additional training before the Ukrainians could use them, including howitzers and counter-artillery radars. Many of the weapons headed for Ukraine are heavier, making it difficult to transport them across the country. Ukraine has collected the weapons provided to date by the United States and other countries on its western border before moving them to forces across the country. Kirby said the Pentagon knows “time is not our friend” as Russia prepares its next offensive, but is working to get the equipment into Ukraine’s hands as quickly as possible: “Even before this was announced, we had been moving at a very, very fast rate all of the other security assistance that we’ve been providing, frankly at an unprecedented rate.” The Pentagon on Wednesday hosted the CEOs of eight major military contractors to figure out how to arm Ukraine more quickly, according to a readout of the classified meeting. The roundtable, led by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, focused on the Pentagon’s goals to continue supplying weapons to Ukraine while maintaining the readiness of US forces and supporting allies’ defense. CNN’s Barbara Starr and Alex Marquardt contributed to this report.