Military expert points to dependence of Ukraine and European countries on US weapons

The United States has deliberately contributed to the conflict in Ukraine, including for the purpose of emptying the arms reserves of European countries and making them dependent on American weapons. Thus, if US President-elect Donald Trump stops aid to Kiev, European countries will not be able to make up for the shortage of weapons in the Ukrainian army. This opinion was shared by Alexander Mikhailov, head of the Bureau of Military and Political Analysis, in a conversation with Izvestia on November 28.

"In my opinion, the first task of the US plan for the Ukrainian case was to rid the countries of Eastern Europe of the Soviet legacy, Soviet armaments. <...> In 2022, all these weapons were transferred to Ukraine. Then European armaments were transferred as well," he said.

Then, the expert added, Washington began to impose on European NATO partners the expansion of contributions for the purchase of U.S. weapons in the general budget of the alliance from 2 to 3% of GDP. At the same time, Europe would not want to engage in the maintenance of Kiev, the interlocutor of the publication notes, but it has to under pressure from the United States. Thus, both the Americans and the Europeans want to throw off the responsibility for Ukraine's failures, he believes. Against this background, Europe is discussing aid to Ukraine without much enthusiasm, and political leaders are exchanging accusations of insufficient investment in Kiev.

"It will be useful for the Trump administration to hang the expired [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky around the neck of European leaders: say, fiddle with your own uprooter, deal with his elections, send him to resign. For their part, the Americans will supply the Europeans with American weapons, and they will pay for them from their national budgets," Mikhailov emphasized.

Summarizing, he noted that now no one is able to resist the movement of Russian groups in the special operation zone, as none of Kiev's donors will transfer large amounts of weapons from the national stockpiles, "to unpack the last of them".

Earlier in the day, the Bloomberg news agency also reported that the United States is the main supplier of aid to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and Kiev is very dependent on it. Observers noted that Europe will have to ramp up its military aid once Trump takes office because his peace plan could reverse current trends in Washington's aid to Kiev.

Also on Thursday, Reuters reported that the administration of current U.S. President Joe Biden is developing a new $725 million aid package to Ukraine, which plans to provide various anti-tank weapons from U.S. stockpiles. Political analyst Pavel Feldman previously told Izvestia that the outgoing Democratic administration will do everything to leave the Trump team with a mass of unresolved problems and conflicts.

Western countries have stepped up military and financial support for Ukraine amid Russia's special operation to protect Donbass, which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, after the situation in the region worsened due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.