Despite Russia’s repeated threats and warnings about the consequences of prolonged western backing in general, and delivery of weapons in particular, the United States and United Kingdom have agreed to equip Ukraine with many medium-range missile systems. Russia possesses an abundance of these weapons and has often used them.
Europe is Sending Weapons to Ukraine Despite Russian Warnings
Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s cautions against sending sophisticated weapons, Britain has said it will deliver long-range missile systems to Ukraine.
Nonetheless, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace underscored the most recent British promise that if Ukraine is to “win,” its Western allies must continue to arm it.
Last week, the United States announced that it will provide Ukraine with the HIMARS high mobility artillery rocket system, which can fire several precision-guided missiles at once and has a more excellent range and accuracy than Ukraine’s current arsenal.
The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence claimed it collaborated closely with the United States on the gift of multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.
The M270 launchers will “Substantially increase Ukrainian troops’ capability” since they can fire precision-guided missiles up to 80 kilometers away.
According to the British defence minister, Ukrainian forces will train on how to use the launchers to “Maximise the effectiveness of the systems.”
“The United Kingdom stands with Ukraine in this conflict and is playing a crucial role in arming its courageous forces with the important armaments they need to defend their nation against an unlawful invasion,” he said.
“Our assistance to the Russia-Ukraine war must evolve in unison with Russian objectives. These powerful multiple-launch rocket launchers will allow our Ukrainian allies to defend themselves more effectively against Putin’s army’s indiscriminate use of long-range artillery to bombard cities.”
Despite this, Putin warned on Sunday that if the West sends missiles to Ukraine, Moscow will strike unspecified “Targets” in the country and that any military aid to Kyiv will “Prolong the conflict.”
Are Weapons Sent to Start or End a War?
In response to Russia’s invasion, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other Western countries chose to supply only “Defensive armaments” to Ukraine. As Russia has advanced eastward and southward, the West has provided more lethal weaponry.
In a statement, Biden said that the US would continue to provide Ukraine with weaponry and protective equipment.
In a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared, “The Ukrainians have guaranteed us that they would not use these weapons against targets on Russian land.”
According to a senior Defense Department source, the US will first provide Ukraine with four HIMARS systems.
According to the spokeswoman, training Ukrainian personnel using the new equipment will take three weeks.
No system will ever be successful. This is a fight for national honor… “This will be a long and arduous struggle,” said Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy.
London has stated that it is working closely with US authorities. The US announced that the four HIMARS systems mounted on trucks would be delivered a few days earlier. The United States and the United Kingdom systems are designed to work together. Both missiles have significantly longer ranges than any other weapons in the Ukraine arsenal.
The number of M270s deployed by the UK has not yet been determined, but it will be limited, similar to the US plan to deliver the four HIMARS systems. According to the Ministry of Defence, Ukrainian personnel will be trained to operate the launchers in the United Kingdom, and Kyiv’s forces will be provided with the necessary rockets “In scale.”
The UK, like the US, has put pressure on Kyiv to prevent the M270s from being used to attack targets in Russia. According to a British military spokesperson, the weapons will be deployed “To secure Ukraine in the Russia-Ukraine war.” “We are confident that the firearms will be used properly,” he said.
Former President Petro Poroshenko’s adviser encouraged Europe to impose “More sanctions and more armaments” on Russia in response to the invasion of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
Mykhailo Podolyak, the presidential adviser, wrote: “While someone pleads not to discredit Russia, the Kremlin launches new clandestine operations. The only intention of today’s missile assaults on Kyiv is to kill as many Ukrainians as possible.”
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters, “The more long-range weapons you send, the farther we will push Ukrainian forces away from our country.”
On the other hand, Putin believes that the West intends to prolong the Russia-Ukraine war, which has been going on for more than three months since Putin’s unprovoked invasion on February 24.
“All this hubbub over new armament delivery serves one goal,” Putin said, “To prolong the military fight for as long as possible.”
How Will Russia Respond?
“We will strike at locations that we have not yet targeted,” said a Russian officer who has spent the last three months making operational military choices. He did not say what these goals were.
A railway yard in Kyiv’s eastern Dniprovsky district was attacked by Russian cruise missiles early Sunday morning. Ukraine said the hit was intended at a railway maintenance facility, while Russia claimed it destroyed tanks sent to Ukraine by East European nations.
The capital has been battered for the first time in five weeks. One person was taken to hospital and a column of smoke could be seen from high points around the city.
Five cruise missiles were fired from Tu-95 bombers – one of which was intercepted – indicating a shift in Russian strategy. The most recent attack on Kyiv happened on April 28.
The Russian Ministry of Defence said it was seeking a stockpile of T-72 tanks brought in from Eastern European states, implying that it was now seeking Western arms. The claim was unfounded, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Sunday at around 5:30 am, Energoatom, the Ukrainian nuclear energy organisation, issued a warning that a Russian cruise missile targeting Kyiv had passed dangerously close to the Pivdennoukrainsk atomic power plant in the country’s south.
According to the report, the missile “Flew dangerously low” over the complex, and Russian troops “Still do not comprehend that even the smallest missile component capable of causing damage to a functioning power unit might spark a nuclear catastrophe and radiation leak.”
According to the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence, Ukrainian soldiers launched a counterattack in Sievierodonetsk, eastern Ukraine, which may have hampered the operational momentum of Russian forces. The administration did not reveal if the response successfully repelled the assailants.
Weapons Could Fall into the Wrong Hands
According to Kristen Bayes, the spokesperson for the campaign “Against the Arms Trade”, arming the Russia-Ukraine war with weapons is acceptable but “Not without issues.”
“You think you’re sending firearms to people you know and like, but the guns wind up going to people you don’t know and like,” she told Sky News.
Senior researcher, Pieter Wezeman, believes that weapons handed over to Ukraine “May end up slipping into the criminal market,” which is a more significant issue given the country’s “Lack of comprehensive control over its territory.”
He claims that tracking weapons is difficult since they must be supplied swiftly and may go “Lost or forgotten amid the commotion.”
His current belief is that, after the war, there should be a robust programme for collecting guns from citizens.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has said that some weaponry given to Ukraine ended up in the hands of Russians.
Conclusion
Vladimir Putin has warned that if the US and Europe continue to provide arms to Kyiv, the “Armed conflict will be protracted.” Last month, as the war-torn nation battled alongside Russian soldiers in critical areas in the east and major cities, the US Vice President Joe Biden offered Ukraine a massive supply of short-range missiles.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom’s Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, announced the deployment of long-range missiles to Ukraine. As the seesaw battle for Severodonetsk, the largest city in the eastern Luhansk region not under Russian control, raged on, the United States and the United Kingdom sent more foreign help.
Putin has vowed to launch attacks on other nations if the United States sends long-range missiles capable of reaching Russia from Ukraine. “In general, all this hullabaloo about further armament supply, in my opinion, has just one goal – to prolong the military struggle as long as possible,” Putin said this weekend in an interview on Russian state television. “If these (long-range missiles) are provided, we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our great armaments to strike targets we have yet to strike.”
