There is a big difference between an army that is defending their home and one that is conquering a sovereign nation.
The Ukraine defenders know they will loose their home and freedom if they loose , the Russian soldiers are only there to murder and rape for Putin
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I have not found a statement of suspending arms shipments to Ukraine. The Slovakian air space is now defended by German patriot missiles, so Slovakia had Soviet AA missile in surplus. There is much debate over (modernized) Marder AFWs and other heavy weapons. Germanys antitank capybillity does not rely on javelin missiles. The details what is realy happening are not public, but funding of the Bundeswehr has increased every year. Somehow it seems to me that the discussion about the “Polish” MIG 29s has ended.
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Der Spiegel 21.04.22:
09.20 Uhr: Bundesverteidigungsministerin Christine Lambrecht (SPD) hat klargestellt, dass Deutschland aus Bundeswehr-Beständen keine schweren Waffen an die Ukraine liefern könne. Deswegen erfolge ein Ringtausch mit Partnern aus der EU und der Nato. Geliefert würde zum Beispiel Material aus ehemaligen sowjetischen Beständen: »Da geht es um Panzer, da geht es um Schützenpanzer, da geht es um unterschiedliche Möglichkeiten, die einzelne Länder abzugeben haben. Da sind wir momentan im Gespräch und das geht jetzt auch sehr schnell«, sagte Lambrecht in der Sendung »Frühstart« von RTL/ntv.
Auf die Frage, wann genau die Ukraine diese schweren Waffen erhalte, sagte Lambrecht: »Es geht um die nächsten Tage. Alle Militärexperten sind sich sicher, dass die nächsten zwei Wochen entscheidende Wochen sind im Kampf der Ukraine gegen Russland und diesen Kampf müssen wir unterstützen, damit da bestanden werden kann und deswegen geht es auch sehr schnell.«
The German minister of defense: No German heavy weapons dicectly from the Bunderwehr, but soviet build equipment from allys which will get German equipment in excance. In the next days, because the next 2 weeks are important.
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This was the original article I saw. Apparently there are statements in it from the foreign minister. It does only refer to direct arms support. Due to what appears to be maxed out stocks which made me wonder if they impacted their own readiness to supply weapons.
Because the “maxed out stocks” is not about weapons in use by Bundeswehr.
Fox: "Germany will reportedly work with other nations on increasing their defensive aid and getting soviet-era arms to Ukraine as its forces are already trained on this form of weaponry.
Scholz said that Berlin, along with its western allies, agreed Tuesday that it only made sense to send Ukraine arms that it could immediately deploy without further training."
Germany is out of stocks of Soviet build weapons. But is doing its best to get deliveries to Ukraine. Leopard 1 or 2s, Marders, Panzerhaubitze 2000 or Weasels make no sense in the near future.
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And now we have a video from the Russian State Duma officially saying that this is about conquering territory. What was that about preventing genocide in the Donbas or something?
edit: (need to open tweet in order to see embeded video, ugh)
Die Welt (German ewspaper) 21.04.2022:
“Lambrecht bestätigte unterdessen, dass Deutschland ukrainische Soldaten an der Panzerhaubitze 2000 ausbilden werde.”
The defense ministry of Germany confirmed that Ukrainian soldiers will be trained in Germnany to use the Panzerhaubitze 2000.
“Für die Lieferung schwerer Waffen an die Ukraine plant die Bundesregierung einen Ringtausch über das Partnerland Slowenien. Der Nato-Verbündete soll dabei den noch in der Sowjetunion entwickelten T-72-Kampfpanzer an Kiew liefern, wie die Nachrichtenagentur AFP am Donnerstag aus Regierungskreisen erfuhr. Im Gegenzug soll die slowenische Armee dafür den Schützenpanzer Marder sowie den Radpanzer Fuchs aus Deutschland bekommen.”
T 72 Tanks from Slovenia now, replaced by Marders IFV and Fuchs from Germany asap.
It seems like NATO is intentionally using this time to phase out Soviet weapon systems and replace them with more standard systems. The old ones go to Ukraine.
I’m not sure this is good for Ukraine but it’s good for NATO.
Wonder how much longer Mariupol can hold out. I also wonder when we will find out how many actually died there and feel certain it will be too many.
It is no longer Mariupol, only the steel factory. An Alamo.
To my understanding, everything the Ukrainians can use now is directed to Ukraine, because timing is important. Ukrainian soldiers beeing trained to use the PZH 2000 is evidence that the support of Ukraine is not limmited to old systems.
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True and they are getting many modern missile systems of a defensive nature. The news story did stress that the next couple of weeks were crucial. Not sure what that means but I’m assuming they are working with Ukrainian officials to determine capabilities.
I watch what is going on and it seems that Russia is consolidating control over certain areas and Ukraine will have a hard time contesting this. They need to get some offensive systems if they are going to push Russians back. T-72’s are not going to cut it.
Yes Mariupol is down to just the steel works which is huge. Good chance to see how drone supply works.
Daniel, I hope that this drone supply exist, but I have no data that supports that hope.
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I think that it was stated before special operation started that it is about:
- Liberating occupied land of Dombass Republics and providing security for their citizens
- Disarming Ukraine - providing buffer zone between NATO and Russia
- Denazification of Ukraine
None of those points are necessarily about conquering territory. Sure, that is one option.
Also, war is a game, one has to adjust its play in accordance to other players actions. In that respect, as much as I have followed news, goal now is establishing new world system based on multi-polarity.
It is sad that west has such a sorry level of players at the moment - senile, immature, comedy actors all with autocratic ambitions, and lacking serious strategic vision - it is the best that liberal democracies could produce?
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Pretty much what Russians are doing too. Finding use for the stuff from old arsenals instead of just dumping them away. At the same time making space for the new, shiny stuff.
And in the process murdering the Ukrainian people , and a lot of their own conscripts.
But that is the goal of Putin , he knows he can not covert the Ukrainian people so he want to kill or make them flee the land as much as possible so he can settle the land with Russians.
You would think Russia does not need more lebensraum
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No, but they already received a lot of western light systems too with all the Stingers, Javelins and Panzerfausts.
On those PZH 2000 systems though, Germany does not seem willing to provide its own heavy weaponry yet. From this article I found it seems like they only provide training and ammunition, but the systems themselves come from the Netherlands (who originally bought them from German manufacturers). It seems like the German chancellor is stalling on this citing NATO commitments, which I would consider odd as the Netherlands is far from its NATO commitments either. According to that Guardian article it’s internal conflict about the Ostpolitik (which the SPD traditionally was a vivid supporter of) as well.
Sending the not used PZH 2000 the Dutch Army has in storage first?
German wikipedia:
“Die Niederlande entschieden sich 2002 für die Beschaffung von 57 Geschützen. Die PzH 2000 konnte sich gegen drei Mitbewerber, die britische AS90, die US-amerikanische M109A6 Paladin und die südafrikanische Denel G6 durchsetzen. Ursprünglich sollten die Fahrzeuge von 2004 bis 2009 ausgeliefert werden. Da die niederländischen Streitkräfte jedoch einer umfassenden Reorganisation unterzogen wurden, sank der Bedarf auf 39 Fahrzeuge. Von diesen befinden sich aktuell nur 24 im aktiven Dienst.[”
Did NATO need more lebensraum?
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Nato is a defence pact and not a nation , but did nato ever murder or deport civilians to settle the land with people?
In most Nato member countries you can voice your own opinion without fear of being killed or deported
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Russia’s goal is ‘full control of Southern Ukraine and land bridge towards Transistria’.
I’ll save you the response.
“Noooooooo! Russia only attack nazis. NATO evil!”
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