Some Ukraine Allies Are Failing to Follow Through on Air-Defense Pledges
(Bloomberg) -- A number of Ukraine’s NATO allies are falling short on pledges to accelerate deliveries of air-defense systems and other military equipment to fend off Russia’s offensive, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Several North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies have yet to follow through with commitments they reaffirmed at the alliance’s summit in Washington last month, the people said on condition of anonymity. Those include pledges to send at least five additional long-range systems, they said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy renewed calls for urgent help from allies as his forces launched a surprise incursion into Russian territory this month. The president, who has lamented that fresh US weapons supplies were taking too long to reach the front, reinforced the plea for faster deliveries this week.
“There are no vacations in war,” Zelenskiy said in an address to the nation Sunday. “Decisions are needed, as is timely logistics for the announced aid packages. I especially address this to the United States, the United Kingdom and France.”
The NATO air-defense pledge, which included commitments that had already been made, was the centerpiece of allied support at the alliance’s July summit. President Joe Biden called it — along with dozens of shorter-range systems — a “historic donation.”
The US, Germany and Romania each vowed to send a Patriot system, with a fourth provided with components from several nations. Italy pledged to send a SAMP-T surface-to-air system. Other allies committed to sending other systems and munitions to Ukraine.
Zelenskiy said Tuesday that Kyiv had discussed air-defense systems with its partners. “We are are preparing reinforcements,” he said in a regular address to the nation, without elaborating.
Ukraine will come under additional strain as the third full winter of the conflict approaches — and as citizens already struggle with rolling blackouts prompted by decimated energy infrastructure.
Many of the NATO pledges are unlikely to be fulfilled by autumn, when Russia is expected to exploit the war-battered nation’s vulnerabilities and intensify its bombardment of Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, the people said.
Deep Strikes
As Russia presses ahead with its war-footing, the support among Ukraine’s allies remains uneven, according to one official. Another said some allies are falling behind on providing military equipment to Ukraine’s reserve forces, which is affecting the country’s defenses.
Zelenskiy also drove home his demand that the US and some European allies lift remaining restrictions on the use of long-range weapons, arguing that his military cross-border incursion in Russia’s western Kursk region exposed Kremlin threats of retaliation as “illusory.”
Zelenskiy’s government has argued that deep strikes into Russia are necessary to hit airfields and launchers from which Moscow initiates attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure. Allies such as the US, Germany and Italy have so far resisted the request, with some only allowing for limited use of their weapons inside Russian territory.
Ukraine touted the first occupation of Russian territory since World War II, which has prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents and a military response that could draw troops and hardware from the front line.
While Ukraine’s top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said Tuesday that Kyiv now controls 1,263 square kilometers (488 square miles) of Kursk region territory, Kremlin forces have pressed forward with grinding advances in eastern Ukraine.
Russian troops approached the city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, an important logistics hub for Ukrainian forces. Local authorities have issued evacuation warnings.
Further action in the Kursk region “will depend on the development of the operational situation,” Syrskyi said in televised comments.
--With assistance from Aliaksandr Kudrytski.
(Updates with Zelenskiy comments in seventh paragraph, Syrskyi comments in last paragraph.)
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