Thursday, April 9, 2015

Gen. Wesley Clark: Ukraine Must Be Armed Right Now

A March rally in Kiev's Independence Square 
(AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov)
The Kremlin has been waging a covert, hybrid war against Ukraine since February 2014. In this war, Moscow has used a combination of local separatist forces, irregular volunteers and Russian special forces and regular (conventional) forces. Since the original Minsk I cease-fire in September and the Minsk II cease-fire in February, the Kremlin-directed forces have taken additional territory.
Ukrainian voluntary militia the Azov Battalion holds 
artillery training in the village of Urzuf, west of the 
port city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, on 
March 19, 2015. Marko Djurica/Reuters
A team consisting of General Wesley K. Clark (Ret.), former supreme allied commander, Europe; Lieutenant General Patrick M. Hughes (Ret.), former director, defense intelligence agency; and Lieutenant General John S. Caldwell (Ret.), former Army research, development and acquisition chief, met with senior civilian and military officials, including Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Ukrainian Chief of the General Staff Viktor Muzhenko, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, and Ukrainian ministers, parliamentarians and leaders at all levels of the military, both in Kiev and in the operational area.
General Wesley Clark
Here are their key findings.
Putin Is Responsible for the War
The form of warfare currently undertaken by aggressor forces in Ukraine is a hybrid-heavy form of warfare—a new model not seen before. Despite political and media commentary to the contrary, the fighting in Ukraine is not a civil war driven by Ukrainian separatists. It is a war directed, financed and supplied by the Kremlin that also exploits the discontent of some of the population of the Donbass.
The idea that Ukraine is helpless against Russian aggression is wrong and should be refuted, but, on balance, Ukraine’s capabilities are woefully inadequate.
Ukraine Is Marshaling All Available Resources
The Ukrainian government has adequately marshaled the resources it has, but Ukrainian forces are arrayed against a much stronger aggressor. Ukrainians are mobilizing under conscription. Some 41,000 troops have been mobilized thus far. New forces are being rudimentarily trained and sent into the operational area for further training during this cease-fire.
Russian Forces Are More Numerous and Technologically Advanced
Ukrainians do well against the separatists and irregulars but cannot withstand direct engagement with Russian regular forces, who are heavily involved in the fighting in Ukraine’s east.
According to estimates, some 9,000 Russian Federation personnel and 30,000 to 35,000 separatist fighters are in eastern Ukraine. These forces include some 400 tanks and 700 pieces of artillery, including rocket launchers. Another approximately 50,000 Russian military personnel are located along or near Russia’s border with Ukraine. A further 50,000 Russian personnel are located in Crimea.
Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists pose aboard a 
mobile anti-aircraft battery.
Russian forces use very advanced weapons systems—tanks, artillery and mortars, air defense systems, helicopters, secure communications, electronic countermeasures, communications intelligence, imagery systems, satellite-borne systems and other tactical and operational capabilities.
Ukrainians Are Missing Key Capabilities
Ukraine is using old “Soviet-era” equipment combined with limited numbers of modern equipment and capabilities. Ukrainian forces have a huge military equipment shortage:
Read the rest of the story HERE and watch a related video below.

General Wesley Clark: Exclusive Briefing from Ukraine’s Front Lines:



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