Economic Crisis, Government’s Course Make Ukrainian Army Dependent on US

© AFP 2023 / Genya SavilovUS and Ukrainian soldiers
US and Ukrainian soldiers - Sputnik International
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The Ukrainian army is getting increasingly dependent on the United States and the current economic crisis together with the political course taken by the government are likely to push the country further into that dependence, European political experts told Sputnik Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — After Kiev launched its military operation in Donbas in April 2014, Ukrainian authorities repeatedly called on the Western countries asking them for lethal assistance. Many European countries, including Germany and France, immediately ruled out arming Kiev. The United States is yet to make a decision on the matter.

"The Ukrainian military is becoming increasingly dependent on the US military. For Kiev, receiving American military support is crucial to securing and strengthening its hold of Ukraine," Marcus Papadopoulos, British political expert and editor-in-chief of Politics First magazine, said.

According to Papadopoulos, the Ukrainian army still enjoys a relatively high degree of autonomy mainly due to Ukraine’s large military-industrial complex that, despite being treated with negligence since the collapse of the Soviet Union, is still able to serve the country's needs. However, in light of the current economic situation in Ukraine the prospects of the country’s military-industrial sphere seem blurred.

"With the Ukrainian economy in a dire condition and on the verge of total collapse, with potentially fatal implications for the country's industrial-military complex, the Ukrainian military will inevitably look increasingly towards the US for a lifeline."

According to Papadopoulos, for Washington Kiev’s dependence is beneficial as it allows to fulfill its long-sought goal of accepting Ukraine to NATO "thus completing the encirclement of the Russian Federation on its western borders with NATO members."

The course chosen by Poroshenko’s government, that, according to the expert, is now exercising all efforts "to destroy for good Ukraine’s historic links to Russia" – including by banning the use of Soviet symbols and names – also leads to the country's increasing dependence on Washington.

"Any talk of the US ‘walking away’ from Ukraine is absurd and naive… If the return for its financial undertakings to Ukraine is completely encircling Russia in Europe, then this is a price that is well worth paying."

Stevan Gajic, who is a research fellow at the Institute for European Studies in Belgrade, Serbia, also acknowledges growing dependency of the Ukrainian army from the United States.

"In Ukraine the central government itself invited Americans to provide it with military assistance," Gajic said noting, however, that the United States and its European allies played their part in the very emergence of the current Ukrainian government — but they did it using soft power methods, "providing political support to the illegal coup in Kiev."

In April 2015, the US Army sent 300 paratroopers to western Ukraine to train Ukraine’s National Guard. Later in 2015 Kiev is planning to hold three joint exercises with US military.

© REUTERS / Gleb GaranichUkrainian President Petro Poroshenko (top C) addresses recruits from the presidential regiment as war veterans look on during Victory Day celebrations in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Kiev, Ukraine May 9, 2015. Spurning what is expected to be a display of military swagger in Moscow on Saturday, Kiev plans to put the accent at home on reconciliation rather than triumphalism and victory. But some Ukrainians fear associating the struggle in World War Two with today's struggle against Russia will deepen splits in a politically divided population and hand propaganda gifts to Moscow, which equates Kiev with treachery and fascism.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (top C) addresses recruits from the presidential regiment as war veterans look on during Victory Day celebrations in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Kiev, Ukraine May 9, 2015 - Sputnik International
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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (top C) addresses recruits from the presidential regiment as war veterans look on during Victory Day celebrations in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Kiev, Ukraine May 9, 2015. Spurning what is expected to be a display of military swagger in Moscow on Saturday, Kiev plans to put the accent at home on reconciliation rather than triumphalism and victory. But some Ukrainians fear associating the struggle in World War Two with today's struggle against Russia will deepen splits in a politically divided population and hand propaganda gifts to Moscow, which equates Kiev with treachery and fascism.
© Sputnik / Stringer / Go to the mediabankServicemen of the 173rd Airborne Brigade of the United States Army before the Ukrainian-American joint military exercises Fearless Guardian-2015 in the territory of the International Peacekeeping and Security Center of the Hetman Petro Sahaidachny Academy of the Ground Forces in the village of Starichi, Yavoriv District.
US military instructors arrive in Ukraine - Sputnik International
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Servicemen of the 173rd Airborne Brigade of the United States Army before the Ukrainian-American joint military exercises Fearless Guardian-2015 in the territory of the International Peacekeeping and Security Center of the Hetman Petro Sahaidachny Academy of the Ground Forces in the village of Starichi, Yavoriv District.
© AP Photo / Efrem LukatskyUkraine's President Petro Poroshenko passes by U.S. armored Humvees in Boryspil Airport, Kiev, Ukraine
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko passes by U.S. armored Humvees in Boryspil Airport, Kiev, Ukraine - Sputnik International
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Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko passes by U.S. armored Humvees in Boryspil Airport, Kiev, Ukraine
© AP Photo / Evgeniy MaloletkaUkrainian servicemen deploy a weapon at the beach of the Azov Sea in Shyrokyne, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, April 15, 2015. Russia and Ukraine agreed in Berlin on Monday to call for the pullback of smaller-caliber weapons from the front lines of the conflict that has claimed more than 6,000 lives. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukrainian servicemen deploy a weapon at the beach of the Azov Sea in Shyrokyne, eastern Ukraine - Sputnik International
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Ukrainian servicemen deploy a weapon at the beach of the Azov Sea in Shyrokyne, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, April 15, 2015. Russia and Ukraine agreed in Berlin on Monday to call for the pullback of smaller-caliber weapons from the front lines of the conflict that has claimed more than 6,000 lives. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (top C) addresses recruits from the presidential regiment as war veterans look on during Victory Day celebrations in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Kiev, Ukraine May 9, 2015. Spurning what is expected to be a display of military swagger in Moscow on Saturday, Kiev plans to put the accent at home on reconciliation rather than triumphalism and victory. But some Ukrainians fear associating the struggle in World War Two with today's struggle against Russia will deepen splits in a politically divided population and hand propaganda gifts to Moscow, which equates Kiev with treachery and fascism.
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Servicemen of the 173rd Airborne Brigade of the United States Army before the Ukrainian-American joint military exercises Fearless Guardian-2015 in the territory of the International Peacekeeping and Security Center of the Hetman Petro Sahaidachny Academy of the Ground Forces in the village of Starichi, Yavoriv District.
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Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko passes by U.S. armored Humvees in Boryspil Airport, Kiev, Ukraine
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Ukrainian servicemen deploy a weapon at the beach of the Azov Sea in Shyrokyne, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, April 15, 2015. Russia and Ukraine agreed in Berlin on Monday to call for the pullback of smaller-caliber weapons from the front lines of the conflict that has claimed more than 6,000 lives. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
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