Russian invasion of Ukraine

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Simba

I don’t really have words for the current situation. Why has the west stopped delivering weapons and systems to Ukraine?
I thought the tanks would just be the beginning and hundreds of tanks would follow. Same for F-16, but after the initial donation, nothing. Same for m113, Bradley etc.

All I want for Christmas is 300 abrams, 500 Bradley’s, 1000 m113, 1000 humvees, a million shells and 200 scalp missiles for Ukraine. Ammo can be my sock filler

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c.h.e. in reply to @Simba

Adding to above:
Take Germany and leopard 2 tanks. There were something like 260 end of 2020.
Of those, around a hundred were operational. Right now the number of 64 is out there, as we gave some to Ukraine. Looks about the same with all the other stuff.

I don't really know about the other EU/NATO countries, but we did (and probably still do) an incredibly bad job with our armed forces, and just don't have anything to give, probably not even blankets.

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Leshaches in reply to @c.h.e.

Germany has had to tread a murky line beyond which the Sun et al start with the hysterics, so they can be forgiven for not keeping an expeditionary force at the ready.

Part of the reason NATO wanted Finland is because they have the largest artillery in Europe, and have spent decades studying how to defeat the Russian army in similar environments to Ukraine. Why they haven’t been asked to dole out more, is a good question, with a likely political answer.

Also, the 2nd Russian invasion of Ukraine showed the world that large-scale war is different to what was expected: endless streams of small drones in the air and on water, battlefield panopticon available at the squad level, constant itinerant rocket attacks on cities, massed artillery and trench warfare making a return. If NATO joins the fray outright then who knows what new ideas will emerge, so no one wants to get rid of potentially useful stuff that they aren’t sure they can readily replace.

France, which has participated in military conflicts in Africa for years and also keeps military presence around the world, has the second most experienced army in Europe but it isn’t equipped for the type of fighting seen in Ukraine.

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