Russians warn on increasing aid to Ukraine

Remember when the Ukraine phone-call news broke and the news was filled with how corrupt and underhanded the Ukraine government was?  Just a purported phone call from Trump was enough to trigger an impeachment investigation, because them ee-vul Youcrane folks shouldn’t even be spoken to, especially by a US President. Yeah, me too. How times have changed.

Latest from Russia – warning the US that supplying too many munitions and arms to the Ukrainians would seriously jeopardize our relationship.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the expansion of Western weapon supplies to Ukraine “leads to an aggravation of the conflict and, in fact, does not bode well for Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy is in Washington asking for more support. (He is actually getting an eye-popping $45,000,000,000 in the just-passed spending bill.)

“We are not in an easy situation. The enemy is increasing its army. Our people are braver and need more powerful weapons,” the Ukrainian leader said. “We will pass it on from the boys to the Congress, to the president of the United States. We are grateful for their support, but it is not enough. It is a hint — it is not enough.”

Military Times

I hate agreeing with the Russians on anything, but in all fairness I recall we were plenty peeved at all the Russian and Chicom weaponst shipped into Vietnam for the benefit of our adversaries there, too.  Kind of a bitch when the shoe is on the other foot, isn’t it, Vlad? (HIS response is to ready more nuclear-capable missiles for combat use and upping Russian’s military strength to a projected 1,500,000 folks. No timeline specified but you know they can do it quickly when they don’t worry about pesky details like training, ammo, weapons, or other equipment.)

One possible positive from all this – Japan is talking about doubling their defense spending in the next five years to become more independent and able:

Perhaps more importantly, the Japanese could see that the Ukrainians have been able to secure unwavering support from NATO and other Western countries because of their extraordinary resolve to fight against the Russian invaders. In other words, the lesson of Ukraine for Japan is: Heaven helps those who help themselves.

Military Times I

Now, the subject of Japan’s ambitions is a separate issue – China’s aggression is undoubtably the biggest reason, but it’s nice to see that all that aid to Ukraine is accomplishing something positive beside decimating Russian forces. There are those in Japan who question such upgrades while purportedly needing no more troops to accomplish this – but that is another discussion. Amazing how actually supporting those we call allies (koff koff Afghanistan, Vietnam koff koff) can encourage our other allies.

Category: International Affairs, Russia, Ukraine