Russia welcomes Trump's reduction in military aid for Ukraine

Russia welcomes Trump's reduction in military aid for Ukraine

The reactions to the decision of the Trump administration, some arms deliveries to Ukraine

weapon aid under Review

This decision could, however, have fatal consequences for Ukraine, since the interruption includes deliveries of patriot rockets-according to the US manufacturer, effective air defense systems that currently millions of civilians in Ukraine before the increasingly protecting massive daily air strikes in Russia.

While the United States was the largest supporter in Ukraine for a long time and covered around 40 % of Kiev's military needs, there have been no new help since the beginning of January, when Trump came back to power. In contrast, European countries have significantly expanded their support for Ukraine. According to the German Kiel Institute, which monitors the help of Ukraine, Europe has meanwhile overtaken and a total of 72 billion euros (85 euros Billions of dollars) provided with military help.

The urgency of patriot systems

"Ukraine has many different needs and some of them can be covered by other suppliers, but some can only be provided by the USA," said Daniel Byman, director of the warfare program, irregular threats and terrorism at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). "Only the United States can deliver, especially in ballistic rockets, a failure of this leaves a huge gap in the air defense of Ukraine," he continued.

Ballistic rockets represent the deadliest threat, and according to Ukrainian officials, the Russians fired up to 80 such rockets in June alone. Although Ukraine managed to intercept some of them, the attacks that have penetrated have caused unimaginable suffering. A rocket attack in Dnipro killed 21 people last week, and a week earlier, 21 people were killed when a ballistic rocket scored a residential building in Kiev.

dependence on US deliveries

Such fatal attacks become more common when Ukraine loses access to the patrio's, which are one of the best air defense systems. These systems are able to shoot marching and hyper-shall missiles, as well as short-distance ballist rockets and aircraft. According to analysts, the Ukrainian military uses them extremely effective to intercept rockets that Moscow described as incomprehensible.

The Patriots costs estimated about $ 1.1 billion per system and are therefore the most expensively arms that were sent to Ukraine by the allies. According to the CSIS, the costs for rockets of the American patriot systems amount to around $ 4 million per piece.

production bottlenecks and international dependency

Even if Ukraine had the necessary capital to procure these systems, it would be difficult to procure them. "The production capacity of the patriot rockets is limited. This is not because the United States no longer wants to produce, but because it is very complex. You cannot produce thousands a year, but only hundreds," said Pavel Luzin from Center for European Policy Analysis.

Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the patriot rockets for the US Army, has increased production at record heights-but even that is not enough to cover global needs. Germany also checks the opportunity to buy further rockets from the USA.

conclusion: The situation in Ukraine

Selenskyj said that Ukraine would need about 25 patriot batteries to effectively defend their airspace. It currently has about half a dozen, with precise numbers and locations being kept secret. The fears of a lack of ammunition are great, especially because the last US breaks not only affect future support, but also already approved and financed deliveries that were already on the way to Ukraine.

"There is a significant difference between the approval of future sales and the stop of already approved deliveries. This negative turn will quickly have an impact," warned Byman. The break in the deliveries could give Russia a further advantage and heat the military efforts of Russia.

for the Ukrainians who sacrifice so many to defend their country against a more aggressive enemy, the absence of military US help is not just a setback-it could turn out to be a disaster.

Report by CNN, with contributions by Svitlana Vlasova, Kosta Gak and Victoria Butenko.