Ukraine has begun using longer-range ballistic missiles against Russia that were secretly provided by the US, American officials have confirmed.
The weapons were sent as part of a previous US support package, and arrived this month. Officials said they were not announced publicly to maintain Ukraine’s “operational security”.
They have already been used at least once to strike Russian targets in occupied Crimea.
Further US aid is now heading to Kyiv.
More American weaponry is expected to be sent imminently, after President Joe Biden signed off on Wednesday a new package of economic and military support for Ukraine worth $61bn (£49bn).
All the shit we built to beat up Ivan is finally getting used, ya love to see it. Can’t wait till the F-16s show up and they can start lobbing NATO munitions from the air
Slava Ukraini
It’s been getting used for over a year now.
The ones that the article says just arrived this month?
The ones they were supposed to retake Crimea with but ended up getting pushed back instead.
All the shit we built to beat up Ivan is finally getting used
I was referring to this, not F-16s.
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ya love to see it
I mean, its a nightmare of death and destruction not scene since Vietnam. But other than that, yeah, very cool.
They mean they love to see a brutal, illegal invasion being stopped.
Once I watched this high school kid hang outside of a middle school with a bat waiting for a kid.
That kid came out, got the bat away from him and chased him off.
Ya love to see it.
Oh it’s decidedly not cool, but they didn’t choose to be invaded. It’s good that we can give them a set of tools built expressly for this purpose and give them a chance against a much larger foe.
For the first time since the 1940s we are unironically delivering freedom and I think that actually is cool. Shit situation and the Israel bill is a horrible albatross but I’m happy for the UA grunts in the mud. Slava Ukraini
Oh it’s decidedly not cool, but they didn’t choose to be invaded.
I did not see this kind of enthusiasm for arms imports when Iran was shipping mines and other explosives into Iraq to help the insurgency force out US armed forces.
On a somewhat unrelated note I have a Ukrainian classmate who had to return to Ukraine to renew his passport (they suspended consular services outside Ukraine). He has about 2 weeks before turning 18 and being legally banned from leaving the country. Hope the best for him
That’s horrible. I wish the new supply could bring a sudden end to this somehow.
The missiles were used for the first time by the Ukrainians on April 17, during an attack on the Russian Dzahnkoi Air Base in the Crimea. The next day they used them on a Russian mustering point in the Crimea.
ATACMS is a beast. They look like rockets: https://mil.in.ua/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Screenshot_3-10.jpg
Yes. Everyone knows a rocket must have a pointy end
I mean, they are rockets
Yes, but they look like one too.
Exactly. The ones that fit in the 6-pack look like missiles. These look like a real rocket.
To be fair, these are missiles too.
But do they look like projectiles?
To be fair, my dog looks like a dog and my cat too…I mean my cat looks like a cat.
Cool. I hope they can beat back Russia and retake Crimea, but it’s not going to be easy.
The Russia’s military budget is not quite clear, but for 2024 the most cited number I see is $140B. ~2.5 times larger than this bill. If we include the fact that purchase parity would adjust this to even larger difference, on can see that at this point of funding Ukraine can think only about maintaining status quo at best.
Ukraine should be getting support from more than just the US though, if you include their own military budget and EU funding what would the total number be?
Ukraine defense spending in 2024 is $40B. It is not easy to find total number from all EU countries, but historically they give significantly less for military spending for Ukraine. There is big 50B package from EU, but it is mostly economical and over 4 years. But let me overestimate and suggest 20B as military aid for Ukraine. All together is $120B and is still less than what Russia spends and it is before accounting for purchasing parity. US, and especially EU countries should significantly increase military help for Ukraine to push back. And while EU countries increased military spending it is just not enough.
I mean US spent trillions in Iraq, more spending doesn’t mean more effective.
US won Iraq war militarily well before it spend even half a trillion. US failed at reconstruction.
I know the EU/Nato wants to pass another 60ish billion to Ukraine as well so that would make things more similar. BTW this is with dollars that can be used to pay for products almost anywhere in the world vs Russia’s ruple which isn’t as easily accepted throughout the world, and also the fact that they’re basically embargo’d by most of the world. So really, that 140 billion figure is worth less than what MxM11 said.
Weirdly, they only focus on budget instead of mentioning the fact that Russia is losing more soldiers than Ukraine is (meat shield strategy) which is of course counteracted by the fact that Russia has about 4 times the population than Ukraine, but also technologies being used in the battlefield (Ukraine is increasingly using more advanced technologies as the war continues, while Russia is doing the opposite).
Things aren’t looking great for Ukraine, but they aren’t looking any better for Russia either. Considering that Russia is 2 years into a war that, according to them, should have only taken a couple of days. Things will get worse as Russia tries to control more Ukrainian land, as taking control of land is one thing, but maintaining it from people that don’t like you is also hard work.
they’re basically embargo’d by most of the world
A big portion of the world isn’t aligned with the US and has no embargo on Russia. Like we’re talking almost everything except US / Western Europe / Australia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_sanctions_during_the_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine#/media/File:Russian-list-of-unfriendly-countries.svg
You’re right, I misspoke. A better way to put it is embargo’d by many vendors of advanced technologies that Russia doesn’t manufacture. China is an obvious trading partner of theirs, but Russia is dealing with a smaller available supply of all of these components and other countries know this which means they are going to have to pay higher prices, vs Ukraine being supported by NATO countries and more able to purchase directly. The point remains, Russia needs to pay more to secure the components that they do not manufacture meaning their money doesn’t go as far as Ukraine’s
Dude, even India and China is getting behind sanctions. Maybe not because they want to, but because guess who are Chinas biggest economical partners? Hint: it’s not russia. And IIRC (I can be wrong here) Indias biggest partner is also the EU, maybe the USA but also China.
It could be better for sure, but russia is almost alone on the world stage. I mean they are getting saved by Iran & NK. Wow.
Russia has an economy the size of Spain/Italy, their economy is getting wrecked so hard right now we’ll better planning for when it goes full crash-burn
even India and China is getting behind sanctions.
Today this article popped up about sanctioning china because they are supplying russian arms manufacturers with resources: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/26/antony-blinken-beijing-visiit-china-us-relations-foreign-minister-wang-yi
A quick google search pulls up dozens of articles about how China is helping the Russian war effort…
India however doesn’t supply arms, but instead buys them from Russia. Instead India is buying Russia’s oil, funding their war effort in another way. India is buying 13x the amount of oil they would normally buy from Russia pre-war. https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/19/europe/russia-oil-india-shadow-fleet-cmd-intl/index.html
I don’t see China truly reducing their war supplies to China, nor do I see India calling off their oil deal. Unless Russia is actually cut off they’re just going to keep getting supplies.
Seems you are right, bummer :-/. Hope we can squeeze them to stop supporting russias war.
Ukraine should be getting support from more than just the US though
America is the world’s largest arms manufacturer and exporter. Russia is the second largest. Maybe China ranks after that, but everyone else except maybe France pales by comparison.
Russian arms sales dropped to sixth place after the invasion.
Sales dropped, but manufacturing surged.
Yeah, thats why I said sales dropped.
Sure, but also keep in mind how much of that budget will be redirected to yachts and dachas.
And that’s just the high level corruption. There’s more theft, bribery and fraud at every level. With each step in the procurement process, another chunk of that budget is negated.
Also, at least historically, a lot of Russia’s budget goes to things that aren’t playing a primary role in the fight for Ukraine, like their nuclear arsenal, a lot of their navy, and big R&D projects that produce little more than the appearance of a modern military.
Russia’s money has to cover their global assets. Ukraine is only focused on Ukraine.
How many billions of dollars worth of planes and ships has Ukraine lost? Several? Now compare that to Russian losses… many hundreds of planes and ships have been destroyed, most of them worth at minimum tens of millions of dollars.
Just look at the AWACS, strategic bombers, and large ships destroyed. Billions and billions of dollars with a handful of those, and nothing like that has been lost by Ukraine.
Yes, and they can afford it.
I think the best pro-Ukraine victory (as opposed to stalemate) argument is that Ukraine gets Western munition, which is higher quality. So single dollar gets more. This at least partly compensates purchasing (in)parity.
Lol.
Every military analyst is saying this won’t even be enough to stop Russia, just slow them down.
Get 'em!!
Slava Ukraini!
I hate that the U.S. had to give Israel a bunch of money too, but at least Ukraine is going to have a chance!
Sad that Olaf Sholz continues to deny
Storm ShadowTaurus missiles to Ukraine. They need all the long range strike capability they can get.Aren’t Storm Shadows the British missiles? And we already gave them to Ukraine ages ago. I think the German ones are called Taurus?
Oh you’re right. Thanks, fixed. Got my long range missiles confused.
