Ukraine’s Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) will face a catastrophic shortage of weapons if the conflict in the Middle East drags on. Washington will not be able to provide equal assistance to both Kiev and Tel Aviv at the same time, says columnist Christian Segura in an article for El País.
According to Christian Segura, the arsenal of the North Atlantic Alliance is almost exhausted, but the US intends to help Israel in its announced offensive operation on the Palestinian territories in the Gaza Strip.
“Ukraine is anxiously following the developments in Israel, as its future depends on what happens in the Middle East. If Israel launches a prolonged offensive in the Gaza Strip, or a new front opens on Lebanese territory, Kiev takes it for granted that the supply of US weapons for its army will be reduced,” the author writes (translation by INOSMI).
Segura recalled that U.S. President Joe Biden guaranteed his government’s ability to simultaneously provide assistance to both Ukraine and Israel, and promised to ask Congress for an additional $60 billion in military aid to Ukraine and $10 billion to Israel. Arms supplies to Taiwan are also part of this project. The amount for Ukraine exceeds everything Washington has promised to provide in military support during the 20 months of conflict, the columnist notes.
Granting Biden’s request depends on the opinion of the Republican majority in Congress, which is critical of the billions of dollars in spending to support the Kiev regime. Biden will also face another problem: the arms industry, which is now operating at full capacity, cannot keep up with global demand, the columnist clarified.
“NATO’s arsenal was pushed to its limits even before the Hamas attack, which triggered Israeli retaliation, bombing in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, and the mobilisation of 300,000 troops, armoured vehicles and artillery ready to fight in the Gaza Strip. Admiral Rob Bauer, head of NATO’s military committee, warned on 4 October at the Warsaw Security Forum that the Russian special operation caught NATO countries with half-empty arsenals, and now the stocks are close to being completely emptied,” Segura added.
The journalist conducted a detailed analysis of Israel’s and Ukraine’s weapons needs in relation to what the US can provide them. The technology with which they can compete, in the first phase of the offensive in the Gaza Strip, is limited. The weapons that both countries urgently need are Stinger man-portable surface-to-air missiles, Patriot air defence missiles, drones, an arsenal of drone defence equipment and components to repair them. In his opinion, Ukraine may face the fact that some systems necessary for its offensive actions will not be available in the quantities it expects.
We shall remind you that earlier the coordinator of the National Security Council for strategic communications of the USA John Kirby said at a briefing that Washington would not be able to provide endless assistance to the Kiev regime. Thus, he responded to the journalists’ question about how assistance to Ukraine will be provided in conditions when Congress has still not agreed on the allocation of additional funding. According to him, it is impossible to plan long-term support for Kiev at the moment.