That vulnerability and necessity still exists. The United States, NATO, the European Union and its allies have gone even further, demanding more reinforcements from South Korea to Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and more aid in anticipation of a Ukrainian counteroffensive that could be weeks away.
Air defense, to protect sensitive areas, military personnel and equipment and civilians, is also critical. According to one of the documents, late February from the assessment of the Defense Department’s Joint Staff, the Ukrainian writer “provides the ability to defend the medium-range air defense. [front lines] will be completely reduced from 23 May UKR 2-3 more waves are estimated to support “a to attack Russia with weapons and drones.
“When the fortifications of the defense of the 1st layer run, the 2nd and 3rd layer will increase the cost of the cost, reducing the ability to defend against Russian air attacks from all altitudes,” the document indicated.
This assessment was leaked online with dozens of images, and was later picked up by The Washington Post and other news outlets, appearing to show battle updates and assessments of Ukraine’s defense capabilities, global intelligence briefs on many other countries, and far more. The information contained in the documents, which were released in late February and early March, appears to have been made available to senior Pentagon leaders and hundreds of other employees of strategic defense contractors. The Justice Department said it has opened an investigation.
After that grim assessment, and still with the danger in which Ukraine is involved, the government of the United States of America and NATO allies have charged in Kyiv a myriad of air defense systems, creating hundreds of opportunities to increase its Soviet and Russian-constructed system.
Col. Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesman for Ukraine’s air force, downplayed the value of Moscow’s information, describing the air defense as an asset that would constantly change with the conditions of the conflict and Russia’s intelligence, making already months-old data obsolete. “We are constantly changing positions. That is why today it will be published in one place; tomorrow we will be in another.
A senior Ukrainian official said on Saturday that the pine was angered by Kyiv’s military and political leaders, who hid vulnerabilities related to defense shortages and other battle information from the Kremlin during the course of the war — some of which were even disclosed to journalists. from the Ukrainians on the ground. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, also expressed concern that more information would be revealed to the military intelligence agency.
The U.S. military and other allies have described an upcoming effort to recapture territory seized by Russia this spring as an attempt to disrupt it. Although pressure is building among some in Congress to continue cutting off Washington’s ten billion dollars in aid, Ukraine still maintains strong support from both Republicans and Democrats. President Biden has said that US aid will continue “as long as it takes” for Russia’s agreements or agreements.
The Pentagon has said that it will provide Ukraine with what it needs, when it needs it, and plenty of questions have been publicly released in the documents. But the purported estimates are far more accurate and paint a much harsher picture of Ukraine’s ability to defend its skies. They conclude that the systems deployed by the West are limited in number, sometimes a match for Russian capabilities and often compete with the large volume of Russian defenses.
One of the charts contained in the leak shows the rate of fire of Ukrainian air defense missiles and shows the depletion of time, predicting the SA-11 systems will be out of commission by April 13, the US-NASAMs by April 15 and the SA-8s. at May In another chart, the prediction that particular types of ammunition will dry up suggests that Ukrainian defenders are prioritizing their efforts by shooting down and attacking Russian helicopters, but holding fire on smaller threats such as drones.
While the U.S. and the West have resorted to limited stockpiles of Soviet-era fortifications, Ihnat has acknowledged the figure of the disintegrating inventory in the documents, saying the fortifications were made by Russia, which is confusing. “It’s nowhere else, sooner or later it will come out,” he said.
In recent days, the United States has announced the transfer of systems such as cannons that use cannons to launch drones, which can help reduce pressure on larger systems that are more suitable for downing missiles and aircraft. Last month, the Pentagon said it would accelerate the delivery of the Patriot advanced air defense system, following the graduation of Ukrainian soldiers who had received intensive training on the system at Sill Camp in Oklahoma.
While robust air defenses on both sides limited the use of air in the war, the documents laid bare the consequences of what might happen if Ukraine’s capabilities were eroded. Russian aircraft would be able to move more freely to strike or move forces, their missiles would be able to fly more expedient and direct routes and play a more central role in attacking forces in counteroffensives, according to the documents.
Conversely, a less well-armored Ukrainian force will face challenges in teaming up for such missions, and could see reduced use of vital assets such as close air support and air surveillance, and ultimately suffer “an inability to deter Russian air superiority.”
Details inside The documents also submit vulnerabilities, which are the defining features of air defense in conventional warfare: targets that must be defended at the expense of others. One map shows yellow dots where air defense systems are near critical infrastructure. The red dots show where such sites are exposed. The projection for May shows more populated red dots on the map to show where the predicted systems are destroyed or exhausted.
Ihnat and the Pentagon have said that one of Russia’s tactics is to overwhelm and drain its persistent air defense systems.
The documents highlight both the air defense urgency and the inherent shortage, said Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who reviewed some of them for The Post.
“This is what it seems,” he said. “It’s always limited. It’s always finite. And in some ways that’s amazing.” [the Ukrainians] he had enough to hang on as long as they have. “Air defense cannot win this conflict,” Karako said.
The detections also provide deeper insight into the drone of military artillery along the front lines in the east, where Ukraine fires about 7,700 shells a day, or roughly every six seconds according to officials, although some estimates put the Russian output at risk. triple number
While Russia may also be feeling the supply pinch, Ukraine appears to be constantly approaching dangerously low inventory levels, according to documents. One slide shows that nearly a million rounds of Western 155mm cannon were fired as long as they were fired, and shows how quickly they are consumed per day and opportunities are expected.
Without adequate demand, the pile would melt within days, the document says. The chart shows a more stable use of rocket launchers but a similar dynamic date is always close to exhaustion. Ukraine’s use of precision precautions relies on US intelligence targets from agencies in Europe.
Ukrainian forces interviewed recently in the field repeatedly said that they had traveled through the area to limit targets while waiting for fortifications to be replenished, both for Soviet-era equipment and new guns supplied by the West. Some report that the howitzer has no ammunition, or vice versa.
He also warned the Pentagon to be more aggressive, as he hopes new training in combined arms maneuvers and the equipment of armored vehicles and tanks will allow the Ukrainians to move more aggressively into the occupied parts of the country.
Several of each documents describe fighting in and around Bakhmut, a small northern city that has been a symbolic center of the war for months, as Russian forces made incremental gains but Ukrainians held back. At the beginning of the last month they stood in constant battle, the Russians surrounded the city on three sides with large garrisons behind them.
One document also briefly mentions the need to deploy a program called “FrankenSAM”. While Ukrainian officials said they were not familiar with the program, the term could refer to a system of chaotic multi-component surface-to-air missiles. They have such weapons has already been describedsuch as US-made cruise missiles that are suitable for use with the Soviet-era Buk air defense system.
Morganov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. David L. Stern in Kyiv, and John Hudson, Dalton Bennett, Evan Hill and Samuel Oakford in Washington contributed to this report.
