The Russians are playing for time to make their best counterattack, and it’s not to push back Ukrainian forces or to break through toward Kyiv. Their weapons are trained at a more damaging target.
Sep 26, 2023·edited Sep 26, 2023Liked by Jay Berman
Regarding the "dollars spent": a lot of that is old equipment that's waiting to be scrapped (e.g. M113 APCs, worth about $500 of scrap metal) or sold for surplus (e.g. HMMWVs, being sold for $3k as surplus) or needing refurbishment, which actually costs us money for storage and disposal - and yet when those are sent to Ukraine they are suddenly worth full price.
The reality of a great deal of the aid is that it's equipment that was already purchased, used, decommissioned, and is saving us money to send for Ukraine's use in lieu of storing and scrapping it (or in the case of ATACMS, in lieu of removing expired rocket motors and cluster munitions and updating to newer standards).
Solid piece. Thank you for it.
Thanks Chris!
Regarding the "dollars spent": a lot of that is old equipment that's waiting to be scrapped (e.g. M113 APCs, worth about $500 of scrap metal) or sold for surplus (e.g. HMMWVs, being sold for $3k as surplus) or needing refurbishment, which actually costs us money for storage and disposal - and yet when those are sent to Ukraine they are suddenly worth full price.
The reality of a great deal of the aid is that it's equipment that was already purchased, used, decommissioned, and is saving us money to send for Ukraine's use in lieu of storing and scrapping it (or in the case of ATACMS, in lieu of removing expired rocket motors and cluster munitions and updating to newer standards).
The slow slog has been the NATO approach in supporting Ukraine from the start. Pulling support now would be wrong. Stay the course.