Arms worth tens of billions of dollars flowed into the United States from European and North American countries Ukraine. guns. Ammunition. rockets. Artillery.
At first, these countries insisted the weapons were “defensive” and intended to help Ukraine fight an aggressive Russian army that had entered the border without provocation.
Continued after the ad
A year later, as the battered but still powerful Russian army prepares to resume the offensive, the nature of weapons destined for Ukraine has changed dramatically. Armored vehicles, longrange missiles and advanced tanks are now arriving from the west.
The distinction between offensive and defensive weapons has always been somewhat arbitrary. But now Ukraine will have the opportunity to go on the offensive and possibly drive them away Russia of the country with some of the best weapons in the world. This means the stakes have been significantly upped for everyone involved.
And the reason for this is no secret. After successfully liberating vast areas in the south and northeast of the country in the second half of last year, Ukrainian forces are reportedly planning a new counteroffensive this year. The allied countries search their arsenals for any contribution that might give the planned counteroffensive the greatest possible chance of success.
When Russian forces invaded northern Ukraine in February last year and also advanced through the Donbass region in the east of the country US and other allies prioritized the use of ammunition, overtheshoulder antitank missiles, antiaircraft systems, and especially artillery, including hundreds of cannons compatible with Western ammunition.
Artillery, perhaps more than any other weapon, helped Ukrainian forces defend the capital, Kiev, and eventually stemmed the Russian advance east and south. After more than eleven months, Ukraine received no less than 750 artillery pieces and rocket launchers mounted on vehicles from the Allies. About 100 more such pieces are on their way.
infographics
“Despite the importance given to antitank weapons in the public narrative, Ukraine held back the Russian attempt to take Kiev with the concentrated fire of two artillery brigades,” wrote Mikhailo Zabrodski, Jack Watling, Oleksander V. Daniliuk and Nick Reynolds Study prepared for the Royal United Services Institute in London in November.
As the Russian attack slowed or even reversed in places like Kiev province, arms transfers to Ukraine began to include more weapons geared towards offense rather than defense. In consecutive deliveries that started in the second quarter of last year, Poland donated more than 200 old tanks. Some were old Sovietera T72s. Others were local variants of the same model.
infographics
These tanks were the first indication of a shift towards foreign offensive weapons. That shift accelerated in the middle of last year when the US and other allies began deploying armored transports, nimble tracked vehicles that bring infantry into battle so they can support tanks, which are usually the vanguard of an attack. UNITED STATES, Netherlands, Spain, Lithuania, Germany, Australia and other countries donated more than 1,400 of these vehicles, mostly American M113 models.
The armored transports arrived in time to take part in Ukrainian dual offensives in the provinces of Kharkiv It is Kherson northeast and south of the country respectively which started at the beginning of the second half. Exploiting gaps in Russian lines, Ukrainian brigades charged through occupied territory, cutting off Russian supply lines and forcing dozens of Russian soldiers to retreat.
infographics
The counteroffensives liberated thousands of square kilometers of occupied Ukraine and set the stage for another possible counteroffensive sometime in 2023. Kirilo Budanov, director of Ukraine’s military espionage agency, told ABC News early last month that Ukraine’s forces have a grand plan for a secondquarter attack. The attack would aim to liberate Russianheld Ukrainian territories “from Crimea to Donbass.” Meanwhile, Russian forces hinted at the possibility of launching their own attacks to consolidate their gains and thwart the Ukrainian offensive.
The prospect of clashing offensives has raised the stakes in Ukraine as its allies continue to adjust their weapons donations. As new weapons arrive and soldiers train in their use, “we will see that Ukrainians are also able to step forward and change the dynamics of the battlefield,” Laura Cooper, deputy deputy secretary of defense, told reporters last month . Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia. “Our focus is on that.”
This new urgency seems to have pushed the US and other allied countries to offer their surplus infantry fighting vehicles. They are like armored transports, but have more offensive weapons, including automatic cannons in turrets and antitank missiles.
infographics
With their heavy armament and speed, infantry fighting vehicles are particularly useful for offensive operations. The US and Germany each donate M2 and Marder combat vehicles to Ukraine. The donations “provide the necessary armaments to go on the offensive to liberate Russianheld Ukrainian territory,” Gen said. Markus MilleyChief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shortly after Pentagon announce the first donation of 109 M2 vehicles to Ukraine.
But the M2 and other vehicles like this were just the beginning. Other and better vehicles soon followed. O United Kingdom promised to donate 14 of his best tanks challenger 2. The US offered 31 tanks M1A2 State of the art.
Germany was slow to approve a Polish donation of about a dozen German tanks leopard 2to indicate to other European countries that they might do the same. So Germany offered Ukraine about a dozen of its own tanks.
infographics
Agile and powerful, tanks are inherently offensive weapons. And the donations of NATOstyle tanks with sophisticated armor, optics and fire control systems represent “an important step towards victory,” Ukraine’s President Volodmir Zelenskyy tweeted.
They are also the clearest sign that the weapons being sent to the war zone by Ukraine’s allies are increasingly geared towards attack rather than defence. And that signals some big changes on the battlefield.
*David Ax is a Forbes journalist and author of nonfiction, graphic novels and filmmaker. His latest book is Drone War: Vietnam.