The Worldwide Response to Russia's War On Ukraine

[Albany Rifles]

A couple of observations:

1. If they are still willing to give the armor countries say they are willing to give a repair site can be set up in a combat training post in Poland with mechanics coming from several countries which have the Leopard. It will prioritize efforts and can streamline repair parts and expertise.

2. Regarding "For years, the United States has been nagging Europe to increase military spending, and in 2014, after Russia grabbed Crimea, NATO members agreed to spend 2% of gross domestic product by 2024. Yet even today, by current NATO estimates, only nine of the alliance’s 30 members are spending that much, while a 10th is close. Thirteen countries, including Germany, were spending around 1.5% of their GDP or even less."
This, I believe to be a little unfair. Much of Europe got hammered during the great recession, tax revenues fell off the table and it took years to dig out...only to then get slammed by COVID. Germany had to a. pay to rip out their national government and move from Bonn to Berlin out of existing budgets.. The Ministry of Defense got hit really hard by this; and b. Germany has also had to pay for the reunification of their country...and had to spend massively on capital investments...in Germany it was Infrastructure Decades, not just a week. Had to rebuild over 2,000 kilometers of autobahn alone.

[Firestorm]

Yup...a lot of our allies are hitting well above their weight. In my work in Germany for the US Army's V Corps and their combat in OIF I came in contact with several Polish, Romanian & Baltic officers. They went all in to help us because they believed it would help them to prepare for the existential threat they faced to their east.

Has that apprehension of an existential threat substantially reduced (or even gone away) now that the Russians have proved themselves to be a remarkably inept paper tiger? I mean can you imagine the current Russian army going up against Poland instead of Ukraine? The result would probably be early stages of Barbarossa level disastrous for the Russians even before direct intervention by other NATO states.

[Albany Rifles]

Has that apprehension of an existential threat substantially reduced (or even gone away) now that the Russians have proved themselves to be a remarkably inept paper tiger? I mean can you imagine the current Russian army going up against Poland instead of Ukraine? The result would probably be early stages of Barbarossa level disastrous for the Russians even before direct intervention by other NATO states.

Yeah...they aren't the Army and Air Force I thought they were in January 2022. But they still do signify a threat which Western Europe needs to be wary of...they can still do an amazing amount of damage.

[Officer of Engineers]

2. Regarding "For years, the United States has been nagging Europe to increase military spending, and in 2014, after Russia grabbed Crimea, NATO members agreed to spend 2% of gross domestic product by 2024. Yet even today, by current NATO estimates, only nine of the alliance’s 30 members are spending that much, while a 10th is close. Thirteen countries, including Germany, were spending around 1.5% of their GDP or even less."
This, I believe to be a little unfair. Much of Europe got hammered during the great recession, tax revenues fell off the table and it took years to dig out...only to then get slammed by COVID. Germany had to a. pay to rip out their national government and move from Bonn to Berlin out of existing budgets.. The Ministry of Defense got hit really hard by this; and b. Germany has also had to pay for the reunification of their country...and had to spend massively on capital investments...in Germany it was Infrastructure Decades, not just a week. Had to rebuild over 2,000 kilometers of autobahn alone.

I continue to point this out Canada's 1.32% GDP defence spending (26$Bil US) dwarfs Estonia's 2.4% (740$mil). The 2% figure is meaningless.

[Albany Rifles]

I continue to point this out Canada's 1.32% GDP defence spending (26$Bil US) dwarfs Estonia's 2.4% (74$mil). The 2% figure is meaningless.

Extremely valid point, Sir.

[TopHatter]

Slovakia basks under NATO umbrella, sends Ukraine old arms

LEST, Slovakia (AP) — Former Soviet satellite Slovakia has been a NATO member since 2004, but the reality of belonging to the world’s biggest military alliance really kicked in after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago.

The small central European country now hosts thousands of NATO troops while allied aircraft patrol its skies, allowing Bratislava to consider becoming the first nation to send fighter jets to neighboring Ukraine — getting rid of its unwieldy Soviet-era planes at the same time.

Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad is grateful.

“I would say that the Slovak Republic is a more secure country in a less secure world,” Nad told the AP in an interview in Bratislava.

“We remember well what it was like to have occupiers on our territory,” he added, referring to the 1968 Soviet-led military invasion of former Czechoslovakia — from which Slovakia split peacefully in 1993, four years after the communist regime fell.

The country of 5.4 million hosts a battlegroup with troops from the United States, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, as NATO moved to reassure members on its eastern flank worried about a potential Russian threat.

“The message behind deploying all of those units is simple,” Czech Colonel Karel Navratil, the battlegroup commander, told the Associated Press. “Our task is deterrence ... to deter a potential aggressor from spreading its aggression to NATO member states.”

Similar units have been created in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. They complement another four deployed in 2017 in the three Baltic states and Poland, to expand NATO's presence from the Baltic to the Black Sea.

In central Slovakia's Lest military training area, among snow-covered hills, the troops recently held joint drills with scenarios including drone or artillery assaults, responding to a chemical attack or recapturing areas seized by enemy forces.

The multinational force is scheduled to be “combat ready” in March, Navratil said.

Slovakia is also working to upgrade its own armed forces to NATO standards. And that has proved a boon to embattled Ukraine, where much of Slovakia's old Soviet-era heavy weaponry has ended up.

That has included S-300 air defense missiles, helicopters, thousands of rockets for Grad multiple launchers, and dozens of armored vehicles. In exchange, Slovakia has U.S. patriot air defense batteries temporarily deployed with American, German and Dutch troops, and received German Leopard tanks and Mantis air defense systems.

All in all, Slovakia has given Ukraine arms worth almost 168 million euros ($179 million), and has also recouped over 82 million euros ($87 million) through a dedicated EU fund.

Amid renewed appeals to Western countries for fighter jets, Slovakia is considering giving Ukraine 10 of its 11 Soviet-made MiG-29 planes — with the 11th reserved for a Slovakian museum, according to Defense Minister Nad.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy directly requested the planes from Slovakian Prime Minister Eduard Heger at a European Union summit in Brussels this month.

If Slovakia agrees, it will be the first NATO member to do so.

It grounded its MiGs in the summer due to a lack of spare parts and maintenance experts after Russian technicians returned home. But Ukraine's air force, which flies MiG 29s, would be happy to have them.

“We will never use the MiGs anymore,” Nad said. “They have no real value for us. If we give them to Ukraine, they can help save their lives.”

A final decision is expected within days or weeks.

Since Slovakia's MiGs were mothballed, fellow NATO members Poland and the Czech Republic have been monitoring Slovak air space, with Hungary set to join later this year.

Bratislava has signed a deal to buy 14 U.S. F-16 Block 70/72 fighter jets but the start of their delivery was postponed by two years to early 2024.

Nad stressed that his country responded to Ukraine’s need for arms despite a long-term political crisis that resulted in the government’s fall in December after a no-confidence vote.

“That Ukraine is able to defend itself against the Russian aggression is absolutely in our national, state, security and defense interest,” he said.

Not everyone in Slovakia thinks so.

President Zuzana Caputova asked the government to stay on with limited powers till early elections in September, which the opposition stands a good chance of winning.

Its leaders include populist former Prime Minister Robert Fico, who opposes military support for Ukraine and EU sanctions on Russia and has said Slovakia's government has no mandate to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine.

The government is awaiting legal advice on the issue.

But Nad told The AP that the MiG arrangement would be “really a win-win for everyone involved.”

“And from that point of view, I really cannot imagine anyone reasonably thinking that they would not want to help Ukraine, (saving) human lives while increasing our defenses,” he added.

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[TopHatter]

EU to speed up deliveries of howitzer shells for Ukraine

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union officials and countries from the 27-nation bloc are discussing plans to dedicate an extra billion euros as well as setting up a joint procurement scheme to speed up the delivery of howitzer artillery rounds that Ukraine says are crucial to countering Russian forces.

With Ukraine facing shortages of ammunition to fight Russia, the idea of setting up a plan of action similar to the one devised during the coronavirus pandemic to buy vaccines was first brought to the table last month by Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.

According to an EU official with direct knowledge of the project who briefed reporters Thursday, the priority now is to guarantee the swift delivery to Ukrainian armed forces of 155mm artillery rounds. The official was not authorized to speak publicly because the plan is still being finalized.

The EU has been helping Ukraine through its European Peace Facility — a fund being used to reimburse member countries that provide weapons, ammunition and military support to Ukraine.

Under the latest proposal, member countries providing ammunition immediately would be guaranteed to be repaid quickly and at high rates of reimbursement.

To fund the project, member states would need to use an additional billion euros after they already agreed in December to top up the European Peace Facility by a further 2 billion euros, with a possibility of an additional 3.5 billion.

The EU will also encourage third countries to join the fund, the official said. "We’re in discussions with the Norwegians, with potential interest from the Canadians.”

In parallel, the European Defense Agency would aggregate demands from member states to restock, and lead a fast-track procedure for direct negotiations with industrial providers of ammunition in Europe.

According to the official, a total of 12 companies in nine member states are producing 155mm ammunition. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, will incentivize them to ramp up production, with guarantees of long-term demand, making the project interesting for them, the official said.

According to various estimates, Ukraine is firing 6,000-7,000 artillery shells daily, around a third of Russia’s total, one year into the war.

The plan will be discussed by EU defense ministers next week before foreign and defense ministers further look at it during a meeting on March 20. Leaders could then rubberstamp it during a summit in Brussels on March 23-24.
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[TopHatter]

Poland Ready to Set Up Maintenance Hub for Ukraine’s Leopard Tanks

(Bloomberg) -- Poland is ready to set up a hub to service Leopard battle tanks that are being sent to Ukraine, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Tuesday.

Blaszczak expects his German counterpart Boris Pistorius to convince the country’s industry to deliver spare parts for older-type Leopard tanks that Poland had committed to deliver to Ukraine. The lack of spare parts has created frictions between the government in Warsaw and Berlin.

“The main problem is the lack of spare parts,” Blaszczak told reporters in Warsaw before flying to Stockholm for an informal meeting of European Union defense ministers. “I hope for a breakthrough.”

Poland will deliver 10 more Leopard 2A4 battle tanks to Ukraine this week after handing over its first four units on Feb. 24, according to Blaszczak.
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[Albany Rifles]

Poland Ready to Set Up Maintenance Hub for Ukraine’s Leopard Tanks

(Bloomberg) -- Poland is ready to set up a hub to service Leopard battle tanks that are being sent to Ukraine, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Tuesday.

Blaszczak expects his German counterpart Boris Pistorius to convince the country’s industry to deliver spare parts for older-type Leopard tanks that Poland had committed to deliver to Ukraine. The lack of spare parts has created frictions between the government in Warsaw and Berlin.

“The main problem is the lack of spare parts,” Blaszczak told reporters in Warsaw before flying to Stockholm for an informal meeting of European Union defense ministers. “I hope for a breakthrough.”

Poland will deliver 10 more Leopard 2A4 battle tanks to Ukraine this week after handing over its first four units on Feb. 24, according to Blaszczak.
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Not going to do an I told you so because when I brought this solution up a while back it wasn't exactly a crystal ball that I was using. If you recall the US Army stood upa support group in Poland to aid Ukraine. Don't believe this falls under their purview but this is the obvious answer to any defense professional how to provide back up maintenance for the battlefront.

[TopHatter]

Poland may give Ukraine MiG-29 jets in next 4-6 weeks, says PM
WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland could give Ukraine MiG-29 fighter jets in the coming four to six weeks, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Tuesday, suggesting that Kyiv's allies were moving closer to an agreement on the next step in their military support for the country.

Poland has said it would be prepared to send Soviet-designed MiG-29 jets to Ukraine as part of a coalition of countries. However, with Kyiv's allies taking a cautious approach to the transfer of fighter jets it has been unclear how long such a process might take.

"That could happen in the coming 4-6 weeks," Morawiecki told a news conference when asked how long it could be before Warsaw supplies the aircraft.

Last Thursday Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad said his Polish counterpart had told him at a European Union meeting on the previous day that Warsaw would agree to a joint process to hand over MiG-29 jets to Ukraine.

Nad said the time had come also for Slovakia to make a decision on whether or not to send jets to Ukraine.

NATO allies in the former communist east such as Poland and Slovakia have been particularly vocal supporters of Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Warsaw's commitment to its neighbour has been important in persuading European allies to donate heavy weapons to Ukraine, including tanks, a move opposed by several governments, including Germany, until recently.

Poland has sent 14 German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

Asked on Thursday how many MiG-29 planes Warsaw might supply, the head of the president's office, Pawel Szrot, said it would "certainly not" be as many as 14.
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[TopHatter]

Canada to send ammunition, missiles to support Ukraine's air defense

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will send about 8,000 rounds of artillery ammunition and a dozen air defense missiles as part of Ottawa's latest military aide to Kyiv, the Canadian defense ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Canada will also provide Ukraine with more than 1,800 rounds of training ammunition for Leopard 1 battle tanks donated by Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government, one of Ukraine's most vocal international supporters, has committed over C$1 billion ($730 million) in military aid to Kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion last year.

Canada has already announced it is donating eight Leopard 2 main battle tanks, which are expected to be in Ukraine in the coming weeks, the ministry said.
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[TopHatter]

Slovakia, after Poland, agrees to give Ukraine Soviet jets

PRAGUE (AP) — Slovakia’s government on Friday approved a plan to give Ukraine its fleet of 13 Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets, becoming the second NATO member country to heed the Ukrainian government's pleas for warplanes to help defend against Russia's invasion.

Prime Minister Eduard Heger said during a news conference announcing the decision that his government was “on the right side of history.” Earlier, Heger tweeted that military aid was key to ensuring Ukraine can defend itself and all of Europe against Russia.

Poland announced Thursday that it would give Ukraine around a dozen MiG-29s, starting with four expected to be delivered in the coming days. Both Poland and Slovakia had indicated previously they were ready to grant Ukraine's requests for military aircraft, but only as part of a wider international coalition.

Heger said his government's move “is closely coordinated with the Polish side, Ukraine and other allies.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the promised planes were another example of NATO members "raising the level of their direct involvement in the conflict.”

“The equipment deliveries naturally won’t have any impact on the outcome of the special military operation, but it may bring more misfortune to Ukraine and Ukrainian people,” Peskov said during a conference call with reporters.

Slovakia will receive 200 million euros ($213 million) from the European Union as compensation and unspecified arms from the United States worth 700 million euros ($745 million) in exchange for giving its MiG-29 fleet to Ukraine, Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly asked Western countries for fighter jets, but NATO allies held off, citing concern about escalating the alliance’s role in the war.

In response to Poland’s announcement on Thursday, the White House said Warsaw's move would have no bearing on President Joe Biden, who has resisted calls to provide U.S. F-16s to Ukraine, and that it was up to other nations to explain their own positions.

Michał Baranowski, managing director of Warsaw-based GMF East, part of the German Marshall Fund think tank, said changing conditions now permit such a move since the initial reluctance to respond to Ukraine's request.

“Many red lines have been crossed since that discussion last year,” Baranowski told The Associated Press by phone. Sending MiGs now “is not the same difficult political sale that it was last year.”

Ukraine will be able to use the MiGs immediately without needing any training.

Zelenskyy appealed directly to Heger for aircraft at an EU summit in Brussels last month.

Slovakia grounded its MiGs in the summer due to a lack of spare parts and expertise to help maintain them after Russian technicians returned home. In the absence of its own aircraft, fellow NATO members Poland and the Czech Republic stepped in to monitor Slovak air space.

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine had several dozen MiG-29s it inherited in the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, but it’s unclear how many remain in service after more than a year of fighting.

The Slovak government that made the decision to sign a bilateral deal with Ukraine for the jets has only limited powers after a December no-confidence vote brought down the coalition government that was formed after the country's 2020 election.

The next election is set for September, when the opposition stands a good chance of winning. Its leaders include populist former Prime Minister Robert Fico, who opposes military support for Ukraine and EU sanctions on Russia and has said Slovakia’s government has no mandate to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine.

Opposition parties including Fico's Smer-Social Democracy party rejected the government's decision Friday, threatening to sue.

Slovakia signed a deal to buy 14 U.S. F-16 Block 70/72 fighter jets, but delivery was pushed back two years to early 2024.

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[Monash]

Maybe some spare parts for Mig 29s would help to. Ukraine must have a list of what it would need to keep surviving planes operational and even if certain countries don't won't to be seem actively supporting Ukraine perhaps a deal could be done to purchase spares covertly, at a slight at a premium or in exchange for the odd 'favor' or two.

[Albany Rifles]

Maybe some spare parts for Mig 29s would help to. Ukraine must have a list of what it would need to keep surviving planes operational and even if certain countries don't won't to be seem actively supporting Ukraine perhaps a deal could be done to purchase spares covertly, at a slight at a premium or in exchange for the odd 'favor' or two.

I have zero doubt this is happening.

[kato]

Maybe some spare parts for Mig 29s would help to.

Germany already provided MiG29 spare parts packages over the last year, from industry stocks. For Mi-24 too btw. If you read between the lines in some press from around that time early in the war it was these packages that allowed Ukraine to fully ready up its aircraft.

Otherwise - A bit interestingly Serbia at IDEX2023 last month announced urgent plans to switch from MiG-29 to Rafale since they can not get any spare parts for their MiGs on the global market (they had originally planned to buy more aircraft of the type from Russia too).