4.16.22
A recently announced shipment of American weapons to Ukraine represents only a modest step in the right direction, according to Ukrainian and Central European officials bracing for a brutal clash in eastern Ukraine. “They are getting the quality through these deliveries, but not the amount, yet; they need so much more of what has been delivered.” Czech deputy defense minister Tomas Kopecny told the Washington Examiner. “I mean, the US shipment was just 18 howitzers... So, it's extremely useful, extremely helpful. It can help a lot -- it will help a lot. It just needs [to be] much more. “The silence before the storm is coming to an end,” Kopecny told the Washington Examiner. “So, we need to act now, because the big battles are coming. And every town and every village that the Russians seize will be just more Buchas, more massacres, more atrocities.” Kopecny has overseen one the most aggressive efforts to arm Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion, a Czech initiative that capitalized on their stockpiles of Russian-style weaponry. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government sent a diplomatic note Prague protesting the transfer of Soviet-legacy equipment for use against Russian forces, but Kopecny’s boss, Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernocova, gave “the war criminal Putin” a contemptuous response – although Czech officials are conscious of the risks involved in the operation.
Poland reportedly has joined Czechia in sending T-72 tanks to Ukraine. Slovakia transferred an S-300 long-range air defense system, but German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has hesitated to approve the sale of tanks and other heavy weapons, leading to an open rift within his government. “What’s clear: Ukraine needs more military material, especially heavy weapons,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said earlier this week, in an apparent shot at the recalcitrant chancellor. “Now is not the time for excuses; now is the time for creativity and pragmatism.” Rheinmetall, a German arms manufacturer, has been prepared to deliver 50 Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine, but the deal has been delayed in Berlin, to the dismay of neighboring officials. “Every decision that is delayed, about sending weapons to Ukraine, is just so wrong,” Kopecny said. “It's really historically important to make the right decision right now, for Germany . . . to show the generosity and the care for Europe as a peaceful continent, by sending what they can from their warehouses.”
