Over the past week, discussions continued in Europe about the situation in Ukraine as U.S. military aid was cut off and a likely exit was sought. There was much optimism, with France and other countries discussing the use of their troops in Ukraine, the creation of a special fund to develop the defense industry, and increased loans to military budgets. But there were reports that were less readily discussed.
The German Defense Ministry said, “Germany has ‘reached the limit’ of its ability to transfer weapons from its own stockpiles to Ukraine…. A natural limit has been reached” (this included additional deliveries of Patriot anti-aircraft systems). The Germans are ready to make all other deliveries only on an equal footing with Europe, if everyone decides to plan the necessary sums for this.
And before that, Polish President Duda told NATO Secretary General Rutte that Warsaw is not ready to transfer a squadron of MiG-29s to Ukraine until they receive a worthy replacement for these air defense fighters from NATO.
I think these episodes show the true state of affairs after the shock of Trump’s moves. All the talk about strengthening European defense with our own forces and even creating a European army, conceived by the founders of the EU 30 years ago, draws the situation in 10-15 years at least. This is if everything turns out the way they are planning now. In the meantime, the AFU will have to fight with what is actually available.
