The last year in Ukrainian-American relations saw U.S. military assistance to Kyiv in danger of being canceled before finally getting released — with an increase.
As former White House national security adviser John R. Bolton noted in his recent memoir, U. S. President Donald J. Trump’s held Ukraine’s $391 million in military aid to Ukraine hostage in a bid to get dirt on ex-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
The malicious stunt, part of Trump’s well-documented disdain toward Ukraine, brought him very close to being kicked out from the White House — impeached by the Democratic House, acquitted by the Republican Senate.
And thanks to firm, bipartisan solidarity in the U.S. Congress and the government, American interests — which ran counter to Trump’s selfish ones — prevailed in September.
American troops of Wisconsin’s 32nd Infantry Brigade continue providing training to the Ukrainian military, while Kyiv keeps plugging gaps in its military with new batches of American lethal weaponry, advanced equipment, and even navy vessels.
American special forces soldiers advance as a chinook helicopter takes off during the “Swift Response” airborne training exercise in Hohenfels, southern Germany on August 26, 2015. (AFP)
Giving what’s missing
According to the American diplomatic mission in Kyiv, since the outbreak of Russia’s war in Donbas in 2014, the U.S. has already provided Ukraine with military aid to the value of over $1.5 billion.
In 2020, America remains Ukraine’s biggest backer in war, ensuring at least 90% of all defense-related foreign assistance to the country, according to the Independent Defense Anti-Corruption Committee (NAKO), a Kyiv-based think tank.
Moreover, American lawmakers appear satisfied that Ukraine doing its reform homework.
On June 11, the U.S. Congress again gave the green light to release the entire $250-million aid package under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative in the fiscal year 2020. Half of the sum was supposed to be unlocked only if Kyiv continued demonstrating tangible results in military reforms.
The decision envisaged provided the Ukrainians with advanced technological tools still badly needed — such as maritime and air situational awareness, command and control, medical equipment, cyber defense hardware, and, most importantly, counter-battery radars that are critical on the stalled frontline of Donbas, which often sees bloody artillery duels.
“The U.S. equipment will contribute to strengthening battle capabilities (of) the Ukrainian Army,” the Ukrainian Embassy in the U.S. commented on the decision on June 11.
“And, more importantly, (it) will help to save lives and secure health of the Ukrainian warriors who are fighting the Russian aggression. The U.S. assistance will be specifically targeted to support the Ukrainian Navy, which is very important under growing Russian aggressive behavior in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.”
An unnamed former U.S. military official with direct knowledge of the situation in Ukraine told the American press the aid package “tells the Russians that they can’t go to Kyiv and create a vassal state or change the geography of Europe again.”
“It also keeps a fair amount of Russian forces tied down that would otherwise be doing things directly against U.S. interests,” according to U.S. defense broadsheet, the Military Times.
Since early 2014, up to 4,000 Ukrainian servicepersons and volunteer fighters were killed in battle against Russian and local militant forces sponsored by the Kremlin.
Ukrainian navy ship ‘Nikopol’ is towed towards a port in Ochakiv on Nov. 20, 2019. (AFP)
New naval muscle
Apart from that, the latest months also saw a whole range of new arms sales and deliveries for Ukraine approved by the U.S. government.
In December, after years of dodgy bureaucratic ping-pong by the Ukrainian government, two Island-class patrol boats finally joined the service in Ukrainian waters. Granted by the U.S. Coast Guard at no cost (although Kyiv had to cover some $10 million in transport and restoration expenses), the formerly mothballed American ships were given a new life with the Ukrainian navy, which is severely outnumbered and outgunned by Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
For Ukraine, which lost up to 80 percent of its maritime power in the Crimean annexation in 2014 and continues facing humiliating Russian domination in the Azov and the Black seas, this was a jubilant moment of hope.
Moreover, in early 2020, the Ukrainian navy said it had launched new negotiations with the U.S. government to acquire three more Island-class boats, possibly after 2021.
The infamous Nov. 25, 2018 incident, during which Russian warships attacked and seized Ukrainian vessels near the Kerch Strait, was indeed a loud wake-up call both in Kyiv and Washington D.C.: Ukraine painfully needs help in resurrecting its navy from scratch. Otherwise, it will be driven from the sea forever.
The newest arms sales focus heavily on naval hardware for Ukraine. As the first deal of its kind following the Trump impeachment hearings, the U.S. State Department approved on June 16 the upcoming sale of as many as 16 Mark VI patrol boats and other equipment worth a total of $600 million.
The U. S. government said the sale was to be paid for by Kyiv with its own funds, although with an unspecified amount of support from the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing program.
This time around, the U.S. demonstrated its readiness to give Ukraine vessels (commissioned in U.S. Navy in 2016) that are much more modern than Island-class boats produced in the 1980s. These will be newly produced boats — SAFE Boats International, a Washington-based company, is said to be the deal’s prime contractor.
The deal includes a whole lot of crucial naval hardware, such as MSI Seahawk A2 gun systems, infrared radars, long-range sea acoustic devices, friend-or-foe identification systems, and 30-millimeter cannons — quite a set of accessories for a river and littoral water patrol force.
For Ukraine’s recently-appointed top navy leader, Rear Admiral Volodymyr Neizhpala, this was more than music to his ears. Shortly after his appointment, the officer asserted that American-produced boats would be equipped with missile systems, and that part of them would be deployed to the Azov Sea.
“It should be noted that the U.S. planned on producing (Mark VI boats) for itself only,” Rear Admiral Neizhpala told journalists.
“They were never offered to anyone but Ukraine.”
Ben Hodges, former United States Army Europe commanding general, however, notes that, despite enjoying broad support from the U.S. in the naval domain, Ukraine still lacks far-reaching plans on its defense in the sea.
“Ukraine needs to decide on its actual strategy and policy for what it wants its navy to do,” the retired American general told the Kyiv Post.
“Will Ukrainian political leaders challenge Russian navy vessels or assert Ukrainian claims to its own waters?
“Getting new ships is the easy part. Having a maritime and naval strategy and the political will to defend Ukraine’s maritime sovereignty is much harder.”
In this image obtained from the US Army, an Army soldier fires the Javelin anti-tank missile at a live fire exercise during Saber Guardian 2019 near Várpalota, Hungary, on June 5, 2019. (AFP)
Javelins & bonuses
Things are also going smoothly with yet another object of worship in the Ukrainian defense community — the legendary FGM‑148 Javelin anti-tank missile systems.
On June 17, the U. S. Embassy in Kyiv said Ukraine was going to receive a new tranche of U.S. military hardware to the total value of $60 million, which includes a new batch of Javelins (150 missiles and 10 launchers) distributed in compliance with a contract signed in late 2019.
In general, the Ukrainian Armed Forces currently operate 360 Javelin missiles and 47 launchers, taking into account the previous delivery purchased in 2018.
The new batch marks a striking shift in the weapon’s engagement in Ukraine. Previously, it was unofficially considered a politically symbolic instrument kept off the actual battlefield.
However, in July, Ukraine’s General-in-Chief Ruslan Khomchak asserted that Ukrainian troops were receiving intense training with the American weapons — and that all combat formations entering the hostilities zone in Donbas would be necessarily enhanced with Javelin units.
Meanwhile, while considering an upcoming defense spending bill, the U.S. House appropriations committee said on July 7 that it endorsed allocating as much as $275 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative in the fiscal year 2021 — $25 million more than what was requested.
