“Things are really heating up — five Russian armored task forces crossed the border in last 60 hours, a force of about 75 main battle tanks, 100 infantry fighting vehicles, 100 other armored vehicles and fifty artillery systems,” said Mr. Karber, also head of the Potomac Foundation.
The increased Russian military operations come as both the United States and the NATO alliance so far have not supplied urgently needed lethal weaponry to the Ukrainian military, Mr. Karber said in an email dispatch to Inside the Ring. However, after a delay of 10 months, the U.S. Army Europe recently sent a delegation of officers to Kiev to assess Ukraine’s military needs. …
Ukrainian military units, including the 93rd Mechanized Brigade and Ukrainian military volunteers who joined them, are “fighting for their life” at the contested airport in Donetsk.Other Ukrainian units, including the 24th Mechanized Brigade and the Donbas volunteer battalion, are in danger of having their positions overrun near Bakhmutskaya, west of Luhansk. Additionally, Ukraine’s 25th Airborne Brigade is facing heavy attack and is at risk of being cut off at the town of Debaltseve.
“The current escalation would not have happened if the U.S. had provided the Ukrainian defenders with Javelin anti-tank weapons because [the Ukrainians] could have handled the tank attack at the airport without having to throw in their own armored reserves,” Mr. Karber said. “The Javelin is critical because Ukrainian anti-tank missiles can’t penetrate Russian reactive armor.”
Mr. Karber said the Obama administration’s policy toward the Ukraine conflict is “self-defeating” because it seeks to promote a cease-fire with diplomatic efforts while ignoring four months of systematic Russian violations of the cease-fire.
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