The provision of a new package of military assistance to Ukraine, including Javelin anti-tank complexes and other types of weapons, has nothing to do with a potential escalation in Donbas, Deputy Director of the Center for Army Research, Conversion and Disarmament Mykhailo Samus said.
“The Ukrainian army is on its territory. The defense sector determines the points of military-technical cooperation with certain states, including the sources for obtaining weapons. The Ukrainian army will be strengthened, this is an objective process. Zelensky’s visit to the United States demonstrates this. Armament, which the United States will provide to Ukraine indicates a deepening defense partnership, it has nothing to do with the Russian occupation or the level of escalation that is present in Donbas,” Samus told Interfax-Ukraine.
According to co-director of foreign policy and international security programs at the Razumkov Center Oleksiy Melnyk, Ukraine has been receiving Javelin missiles from the United States over the past few years, but this fact itself does not aggravate the situation at the front due to the availability of certain delivery conditions.
“Intended use, physical security of anti-armor system, protection of information about complexes from being transferred to third parties, etc. That is, Javelin will be used at the front only in case of a serious aggravation of the situation. Non-use of Javelin over the years was a political decision for to reassure not only Russia, but also Western partners, for example, Germany, that the supply of weapons to a country with a military conflict will not lead to an escalation,” the expert said.
He also said the protest statements of official Moscow against this background should be regarded as blackmail.
“We have long been accustomed to the fact that such statements from Russia are warnings about an impending exacerbation on its part, or an attempt to justify or legitimize our actions if this happens. Suffice it to recall April 2021, when Russia deployed troops near the borders of Ukraine, presenting this as actions to defend its own national security and justifying it by the fact that NATO is preparing an offensive amid the exercises, and Ukraine’s goal is to destroy the entire Russian-speaking population on the territory of Donbas,” Melnyk said.
The expert names the West-2021 Russian-Belarusian exercises as one of the possible factors for the growth of Russian escalation.
