According to the US Defense Department spokesperson, Kiev was equipped with weapons and training from the West which made it a formidable fighting force.
Credit has been claimed by the US Department of Defense “westernizing”John Kirby, the spokesman said that Ukraine’s military received training and weapons in order to fight Russia. However, the results of the effort made over the past eight years apparently took by surprise even the US’ own military intelligence, he implied in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday. US officials had expected the imminent capture of Ukraine’s capital during first days of the conflict with Moscow.
Kirby was asked by ‘Your World’ program host Neil Cavuto about recent failures of US military intelligence. Regarding Ukraine, officials predicted that Kiev would fall into Russian hands within 96 hours of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order to launch the military offensive. Intelligence had previously predicted that US-trained Afghan security force would be able to deter Taliban fighters while the US-led NATO mission pulled out of Afghanistan. Both cases saw the reverse.
Spokesman for the Department of Defense stated that military intelligence was a multi-layered system, which is sometimes confusing and making officers draw incorrect conclusions. The spokesman then complimented the Department of Defense as well as the Administration of President Joe Biden, expressing gratitude for the job done in prepping Ukrainian troops to face Russia.
“The US, Canada, Britain, other allies really helped train the Ukrainians in small unit leadership, command and control, operational maneuver – the kinds of things you see them do now. It’s not just about the weapons,”He said.
He said that the training had transformed the Ukrainian soldiers from an apathetic to a resolute force. “Soviet-era very Russian-dominant sort of military … to one that is much more Westernized in terms of the way they think and act.”
This was no accident. This was what it took to make this happen. [of]Over the eight-year period, the US and many of its allies have been at the forefront.
Commenting on Cavuto’s suggestion that the US should have provided weapons to Ukraine “months and months ago,”Kirby pointed this out “the Biden administration was flowing in weapons well before the invasion.”
“The first billion dollars that the president committed to Ukraine did include lethal assistance, and that was before Putin decided to move in,”He said.
Since the 2014 Ukraine crisis, the US has increased its military assistance to the country and is responsible for nearly 90% of the support it has received in subsequent years. Donald Trump, the former President, overturned Barack Obama’s decision not to send weapons aid to Ukraine. Biden, however, has substantially increased supply since November when US officials accused Russia of being preparing to attack Ukraine.
Part of Russia’s rationale for its offensive was that NATO was turning Ukraine into a military foothold, according to Russian military planners. Moscow claims that documents taken during fighting in Ukraine showed that Kiev was planning an attack to subdue the rebel militias in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow says its campaign targets Ukrainian military targets. It claims it is not attacking major cities in Ukraine and it has avoided besieging them in order to reduce casualties. This fighting takes place mainly in the eastern part of Ukraine, where the Donbass republics are claiming as their territory. Russia acknowledged their independence form Ukraine only days before the invasion.
Kiev established the military infrastructure and a large fighting force in eastern Ukraine over the course of years. Ukraine rejected a Russian offer to remove its troops just days after Moscow had moved in troops.
Russia attacked the neighboring state in late February, following Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, first signed in 2014, and Moscow’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. French and German protocols that were negotiated by the French helped to grant the regions of breakaway special status in the Ukrainian government.
In recent years, the Kremlin demands that Ukraine declares itself neutral in order to be able to join NATO. Kiev claims that the Russian invasion was unprovoked. It also denies any plans to take the republics with force.
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