Since President Trump Tok’s office promises to get American support to Ukraine, European leaders have worried that they cannot supply Ukraine the weapons he needs.
Until now, it seems that they were very good.
The so -called coalition of the arranged nations of the European nations that support Ukraine has struggled to obtain material from their battlefields in time since Trump made it clear that Europe needed to assume more of the load for the security of Ukraine and his.
That is one of the reasons why the Parliament of Ukraine approved an agreement to give the United States a part of future income on natural resources, including minerals. Although it is unless a security guarantee, it maintains open the possibility of continuous shipments of American weapons and other military assists.
“This gives us hope,” said Yehor Chernev, vice president of the National Security, Defense and Intelligence Committee of the Ukrainian Parliament.
In an interview shortly after the vote, Mr. Chernev said that the Ukrainian forces were being low in long -range missiles, artillery and, above all, ballistic air defense systems, most of which are manufactured in the United States, according to an analysis of the Kiel Institute for the world.
For the summer, the military aid approved under the Biden administration will run out, and Trump seems reluctant to renew it.
“He told me that he needed more weapons, but he is saying that for three years,” Trump said after meeting with President Volodymyr Zensky or Ukraine last month in Rome. (The Trump administration has allowed Ukraine to buy some small dollar weapons directly from US manufacturers, but not with the assistance of the United States government).
Allies in Europe have collectively given approximately half of the $ 130 billion estimated in military support provided to Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2022. The United States sent the rest.
While European leaders and investors seem willing to pump more money production, industry executives and experts predict that they will take a decade to accelerate assembly lines.
“Europe is trying to replace the assistance we lost from the United States, but unfortunately, they don’t have the ability to do this,” Chernev said. “Take time between the decision and real assistance.”
He thought that Mr. Trump has shown more alignment with Ukraine in recent days, even Thursday threatened Russia if he refused to accept a high prolonged cessation, his dismissal of Brader around 80 years for Europe has indicated
Allies fear that Mr. Trump will take Russian perforations, such as US troops and the US nuclear umbrella, in Europe. Focusing on their own protection is eaten in what other European countries could have given Ukraine.
“They are affecting the double problem of having to replace and supply Ukraine, and industrial capacity is not large enough to do both,” said Matthew Savill, director of Military Sciences of the Royal United Services Institute, an analytical.
He said that Europe could fill in most of what the United States had provided in weapons to Ukraine, “in the medium and long term, if it has the will, and I am not sure you have the will.”
And for now? “No. Not in the short term,” Savill said.
Weapons are not just a matter of life and death for Ukraine soldiers. Without adequate supplies, Ukraine could lose territory if he is forced to withdraw. The high fire agreement that Mr. Trump is trying to negotiate would freeze the conflict instead. That would allow Russia to maintain any land that has captured in the Meanime.
Undoubtedly, the flow of weapons to Ukraine from Europe continually, even if US deliveries dry. Germany recently sent Ukraine more than 60 armored vehicles resistant to the mines, around 50,000 artillery rounds and aerial defense ammunition, including an Iris-T interceptor that can eliminate cruise missiles. Some drones that Britan and Norway bought, announced last month as part of a $ 600 million security package, have arrived in Ukraine. Estonia is sending 10,000 artillery projectiles.
But many of the European military assists were presented last month at the NATO headquarters amounted to commitments to produce or acquire weapons in the coming year, not immediately. Ukraine may need American weapons for some time.
Part of Europe’s financial support will help the Ukraine defense industry. Mr. Chernev said that some 800 companies in Ukraine produce weapons. He estimated that Ukraine could produce weapons worth $ 35 billion in the coming years, but that he needed at least $ 14 billion invested with allies to get there. On Saturday, Denmark announced that it would send $ 930 million in frozen Russian assets to support the Ukraine defense industry on behalf of a European Union fund.
Ukraine is already producing millions of drones every year, including cheap kamikazes to save his artillery shell supply, Savill said. Similarly, a Western intelligence official who closely monitors the war said that Ukraine forces have given Goth better to rationalize their patriotic defense missiles, using less expensive interceptors to eliminate narrower threats.
“He would like more cruise missiles and more ballistic missiles and a variety of other weapons,” Savill said, “but for the moment, they will have to fill the void.”
