NATO MEMBERS DONATE HEAVY WEAPONS TO

UKRAINE

Heavy weapons such as tanks and anti-aircraft

batteries, although insufficient, can provoke Moscow.

After weeks of charging for heavy weapons to face a

new phase of Russian occupation of its territory, Ukraine
began to receive part of what was promised by NATO, the
western military alliance. Supply that is not enough to
change the dynamics of force between Ukraine and Russia,
but that can be understood as a provocation by the
Kremlin.

On April 8, there will be episodes that April will bring

anti-aircraft distance systems, armored vehicles, artillery
pieces, rocket launchers and even tanks from at least its
neighbors.

This donation, ironically, of war material from the

former USSR that would have been passed on to the
Warsaw Pact countries with the aim of protecting the
borders of the largest country in the world, and can be
considered as a legacy of the end of the Cold War.

The prime minister of Slovakia, Eduard Heger, said

that his country donated the Russian-made S-300 anti-
aircraft systems to the neighboring country. “It does not
mean that the Slovak Republic is taking part in the
conflict,” he said.
 In 1989, at the breakup of the USSR, the then ally
Czechoslovakia received from Moscow an S-300 regiment in
its PMU export version, with four launchers. When the
Czech and Slovak republics split in 1993, the latter
inherited the system.

Obsolete model, can hit aircraft up to 90 km. The

Russians operate versions that can shoot down targets up
to 400 km, but in the context of the destruction of the six
batteries that the Ukrainians had until the beginning of the
war is better than nothing. NATO, of which Slovakia is a
part, will install American Patriot systems to fill the
country's lack of air defense.

The Reuters news agency reported, without naming

the source of the information, that the Czech Republic has
shipped at least five T-72 tanks, five BMP-1 infantry tanks,
heavy mortars and multiple rocket launchers in recent
weeks to Ukraine.

The country operates 30 older versions of the Soviet

T-72 and had 89 in stock. Ukraine ended up being used as
a dumping ground for antiquated ordnance.

None of this will change the course of the war, of

course, given the widespread destruction of armored
vehicles on both sides, but it does show some commitment
from the West that could generate noise in the Kremlin,
which until now had more or less turned a blind eye to the
most lethal small arms sent to Kiev.
 On April 7, NATO Secretary General Jeans Stoltenberg
said generically that alliance members were supplying
heavy material to the Ukrainians, following complaints from
the Kiev government.

The fear expressed by Ukrainian Foreign Minister

Dmitro Kuleba concerns the expected Russian offensive to
capture the rest of the historic Donbass region in the east
of the country. Currently, the separatists who have
dominated the easternmost part of the territory since 2014
have expanded their control with Russian support to almost
all of Lugansk province and perhaps 60% of Donetsk. In
the latter, in the Ukrainian part, is the city of Kramatorsk,
target of the controversial attack on a train station on April
8.

Since its initial offensive was faltered by planning

errors and Ukrainian resistance, Moscow has altered plans
and withdrew the bulk of its forces from the northeastern
region of the country around Kiev. He announced that he
would focus, in the new phase of the war, on control of the
Donbass – in fact, the alleged motive for the occupation.
(See Maffei's Blog
https://radiomaffei.blogspot.com/2022/04/a-guerra-das-
setas-grandes-uma-cartilha.html).

Since early April, Ukraine has been asking for heavier

equipment, as the battle in Donbass will require the use of
mechanized forces, in addition to the predictable air
support that the Russians will use – hence the need for the
S-300 and shorter-range systems such as the Strela that
the Czechs also donated, according to Reuters.

Kuleba drew this when speaking to Stoltenberg and

other ministers from NATO countries. The point so far is
that the West has limited itself to providing effective
portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems, which have
worked very well to hold off Russian tank advances in
ambush.

But a concentrated action, with artillery barrages, air

support, and intrusion of tanks and infantry must find
something similar in front of it. Unless the amounts of
material are much higher than the reported ones, which is
possible, Ukraine will have a big problem in Donbass.

The point is that NATO fears offending Russia, whose

President Vladimir Putin has suggested he would use
nuclear weapons to deal with anyone trying to get involved
in the conflict.

Therefore, the Polish suggestion to send Mig-29 fighter

jets to the neighbor was vetoed by the US, the leaders of
the alliance, as well as the request for the Westerners to try
to implement a no-fly zone over Ukraine – which could
amount to the declaration of the Third World War.
(Text adapted from Igor Gielow, Folha de São Paulo, available at:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/mundo/2022/04/otan-comeca-a-
doar-armas-pesadas-para -ukraine-face-the-russians.shtml).