Which Western Countries Armed Ukraine
08:06 GMT 19.08.2022 (Updated: 20:56 GMT 19.10.2022)
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After the Euromaidan coup, they started gradually turning Ukraine into a springboard for a confrontation with Russia. NATO countries actively pumped weapons into Ukraine. They trained the Ukrainian military under the pretext of defense cooperation, and prepared Kiev for a major war. They financed Ukraine, sparing no expense.
Kiev started aspiring to join the NATO alliance back in the early 2000s. Military cooperation with NATO continued almost uninterruptedly, only intensifying after the Euromaidan. Anti-Russian forces came to power in Kiev, and the West launched an aggressive militarization of Ukraine.
United States
In March 2014, Kiev's unelected post-coup government reached out to the US Department of Defense to pursue military cooperation. Over the course of just six months - from March to September - Ukraine received $32 million from America for soldiers’ uniforms, night vision equipment, and communications equipment. Additionally, they supplied Ukraine with 300,000 army rations, vehicles, and engineering equipment for the border guards. This was just within the first months of the eight-year war in Donbass.
A soldier at the Three Swords-2021 tactical drills, jointly held by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and NATO countries at the Yavorovsky training facility in the Lvov Region.
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US President Barack Obama signed the "Ukraine Freedom Support Act" approved by Congress on December 18, 2014. Among other things, it authorized the transfer of lethal weapons to Kiev and provided for the training of soldiers and officers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Since then, US lawmakers have regularly included funds in the defense budget for military assistance to the overseas country.
In 2015, the US supplied Ukraine with 230 Humvee armored vehicles (including 30 vehicles with enhanced armor protection) and Raven drones. The Ukrainian Armed Forces also received AN/TPQ-36 counter artillery radar systems, designed to track missile launches and artillery operations.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko inspects HMMWV vehicles during a ceremony to welcome a US Air Force aircraft with the first batch of American armored vehicles at Borispol International Airport in 2015.
© Sputnik / Mikhail Palinchak
In addition to military aid from Washington under the Ukraine Freedom Support Act, Kiev has received American weapons under contracts with private companies.
Thus, in 2015, Ukraine purchased a batch of Barrett M107A1 large-caliber sniper rifles, made by Barrett Firearms Manufacturing for the National Guard. The U.S. State Department never disclosed the value of such contracts. The media estimated the cost at about half a million dollars.
Ukrainian and US servicemen during Fearless Guardian 2015, a joint training exercise at the Yavorovsky training ground.
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According to media reports, in 2016 Kiev signed a contract for the purchase of 100 PSRL grenade launchers (an improved version of the Soviet RPG-7 created in the United States) from AirTronic USA for $554,000.
In December 2017, the US State Department authorized the transfer of Barrett M107A1 large-caliber sniper rifles, as well as ammunition, and parts for them to Ukraine in a deal worth $41.5 million.
The supply of Javelin anti-tank missile systems to Ukraine was discussed in late December 2017. At that time, the US State Department authorized the provision of "advanced defensive means" to Ukraine. On March 1, 2018, it became known that Donald Trump approved the shipment of 37 Javelin anti-tank missile systems capable of engaging armored vehicles and low-flying, low-speed targets (helicopters, drones). The total value of the shipment was $47 million.
Testing of American Javelin anti-tank missile systems at a military range in Ukraine. Press Service of the President of Ukraine.
© Mikhail Palinchak
In October 2019, the Pentagon notified the US Congress of its intention to sell another 150 Javelin missiles and other related military equipment worth $39.2 million to Kiev.
According to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the US provided about $510 million in military aid to Ukraine in 2020. At the same time, in previous years, the amounts spent were far less - about $272.5 million in 2019, $250.8 million in 2018, $207.7 million in 2017, and about $226.6 million in 2016.
The agency's report did not provide a specific list of products for which Washington and Kiev had signed agreements.
The Obama administration claimed that it was giving Ukraine only non-lethal weapons and equipment (such as unarmed Humvee armored vehicles and Raven reconnaissance drones).
Apart from that, the United States supplied 43 Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles to the Ukrainian Armed Forces as part of military assistance. Kiev received from the Americans at least 36 AN/TPQ-36, AN/TPQ-48 and AN/TPQ-49 multi-mission radars, as well as PSRL-1 grenade launchers, radios, night vision devices, bulletproof vests and many other equipment.
The shipment of weapons over the ocean continued in 2021 under Joe Biden. In early September, it was reported that a $60 million military aid package was approved for Kiev, which also included Javelin anti-tank systems.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom ranks second in the volume of arms supplies to Ukraine. The two countries' military cooperation plan, Operation Orbital, has been in effect since 2015, under which at least 75 Saxon armored personnel carriers and Land Rover Defender armored reconnaissance and communications vehicles have been transferred to Kiev.
Ukraine has also received medical equipment, tactical gear, fuel, night vision equipment, and GPS navigators worth more than $4.5 million from the UK.
By the end of 2019, more than 22,000 Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen had completed training under British instructors.
Soldiers during the Rapid Trident-2021 joint exercises of Ukraine and NATO countries at the Yavorovsky training ground in the Lvov Region.
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In October 2020, Ukraine and Great Britain signed a memorandum on expanding military-technical cooperation. It provided for the attraction of financing from the UK Export Credit Agency in the amount of £1.25 billion for the implementation of joint defense projects.
Kiev and London agreed on cooperation in the sphere of military shipbuilding on June 21, 2021. They discussed the joint design and construction of warships and the construction of two naval bases in Ukraine with the financial support of the United Kingdom. Representatives of the defense ministries of the two countries signed the relevant agreement in Odessa on board the Royal Navy missile destroyer HMS Defender.
The British HMS Duncan in the sea port of Odessa. It arrived to participate in the international exercise Sea Breeze 2019. The ship is part of the permanent NATO group, which is on combat duty in the Mediterranean Sea.
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Kiev planned to build eight missile boats based on the British design, to receive two modern minesweepers, created with the participation of Ukrainian enterprises, as well as to complete the construction of Vladimir Velikiy corvette with the assistance of Great Britain.
In 2022, London decided to supply lightweight anti-tank defense systems to Ukraine. In January, a large shipment of NLAW disposable anti-tank grenade launchers with 150 mm grenade caliber arrived in the country. These weapons are designed to be fired from enclosed spaces, from behind shelters, or from the upper floors of buildings or basements.
An NLAW anti-tank missile system left by the Ukrainian military at their positions in Lugansk Region.
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Lithuania
Vilnius was the first to provide military assistance to Kiev following the February 2014 coup. Since 2014, Lithuania has repeatedly supplied the Ukrainian Armed Forces with Soviet-caliber small arms and ammunition that had been decommissioned after the country joined NATO.
In 2016, the Baltic state transferred more than 150 tons of military supplies to Ukraine. These were mainly 5.45 mm rounds for Kalashnikov assault rifles. That same year, Ukrainian media reported, citing UN data, that Lithuania provided Kiev with 60 KPVT machine guns (14.5 mm caliber) and 86 DShK heavy machine guns (12.7 mm caliber) of Soviet production.
Jonas Ohman, head of the NGO Blue/Yellow, which supports the Ukrainian army, reported in June 2016 that Ukraine had purchased modern optics for snipers fighting the DPR and LPR People’s Militias with donations from Lithuanian citizens.
In 2017, Vilnius announced that it would transfer a new batch of lethal weapons and ammunition worth €1.93 million to Kiev. Later, the media found out that the weapons in question were old weapons that had been decommissioned after the country switched to NATO standards.
In 2019, the Ukrainian Armed Forces received more than 1 million rounds for Soviet-made assault rifles from Lithuania, and in 2021 they received a batch of body armor and tactical belts.
In January 2022, the Baltic state approved a plan of military support for Ukraine, which included the swift transfer of thermal imaging surveillance equipment to Kiev, as well as the joint purchase of the Norwegian NASAMS multiple-launch rocket system. This is a mobile missile system resembling the Soviet-era Katyusha rocket launcher.
Poland
In July 2016, Ukraine and Poland signed an agreement “on the mutual supply of weapons, military equipment, and the provision of services of a military and technical nature.”
According to reports, Warsaw sent Kiev 50 M57 mortars, 9 MT-LB multi-purpose armored personnel carriers, 15 heavy machine guns, two AK-176M gun mounts, parachute systems, and 100 recoilless guns.
Czech Republic
Prague did not stand aside either. In 2018, a representative of Czechoslovak Group, a private Czech company, announced that it would supply Ukraine with dozens of BVP-1 infantry fighting vehicles (the media reported 200 units) and 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers (after an overhaul), which were produced under a Soviet license.
A 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery howitzer at a firing range
© Sputnik / Pavel Lvov
It was also reported that Czech Defense Systems A. S. had won a Ukrainian Defense Ministry tender for the purchase of shells for Rapira artillery guns. The defense ministry said that the army had a shortage of this ammunition due to increasing fires in military depots. A Czech company offered a batch of repaired shells. It was noted that they were purchased at the lowest price and were as good as new. Their shelf life is at least 10 years. In 2020, the ammunition underwent repairs that included disassembly of all elements, the replacement of gunpowder, powder-containing components, and fuses made in 2019-2020.
In 2021, it became public news that the Czech Republic plans to supply Ukraine with 26 Dana-M2 self-propelled artillery guns. This SAU is a modification of a combat vehicle developed back in the 1970s. It was created on the chassis of the famous Tatra T815 off-road vehicle and is armed with a 152-millimeter gun capable of engaging targets at a radius of 20,000 meters.
Bulgaria
In 2015, Bulgaria, financed by the United States, produced ammunition for the Ukrainian army. The country made shells for the RPG-7V hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher.
In February 2021, Kiev purchased 100,000 40mm rounds from Bulgaria for GP-25/30 underbarrel grenade launchers, 1.5 million rounds of 7.62x54mm ammunition for Dragunov sniper rifles and Kalashnikov submachine guns. The ammunition was supplied via Poland.
France
In 2014, a shipment of bulletproof vests arrived in Ukraine from France. In February 2021, the countries agreed to supply 60 APILAS anti-tank rocket launchers for Special Operations Forces units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
In October of the same year, the US handed over to Kiev a cargo of military equipment, including French APILAS handheld anti-tank rocket launchers, among other weapons.
Estonia
Since 2014, Estonia has trained military specialists, and in 2020 it sent about 2,400 Makarov pistols to Ukrainian troops, which were not used because they did not meet NATO standards. In December 2021, Estonia's Ministry of Defense announced its intention to supply Kiev with Javelin missiles and 122mm howitzers. Estonia received Javelin missiles from the United States, having purchased some of them and received another part as military aid.
Turkey
In 2018-2020, Ukraine imported Turkish Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial strike aircraft systems, spending about $74 million on the purchase.
Bayraktar TB2 drone at a military parade
© Sputnik / Alexei Kudenko
According to the intergovernmental documents on military-financial cooperation, signed on February 3, 2020, Ankara planned to allocate Kiev $36 million of military aid, which would be spent on the purchase of Turkish arms and dual-use goods.
Ukraine participated in the joint development with Turkey of the Akinci high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle, which was used during the military conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Canada
Ottawa has been donating military equipment as aid since 2014, including bulletproof vests, helmets, medical kits, tents, sleeping bags, ballistic goggles, and night vision goggles.
On December 13, 2017, Canada added Ukraine to the list of countries authorized for the supply of lethal weapons. In July 2019, it became known that Ottawa was ready to supply armored vehicles to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The details of this deal are unknown.
The United States, Canada, Turkey, and numerous European states have supported the war in Donbass for years. All these supplies were openly reported in the media, and no one concealed the fact that Ukraine was being pumped with weapons. Where were the enlightened, humane and progressive citizens of the collective West all this time? Why weren't they protesting against military support for the war in Donbass? Were the pacifist movement and the slogan "make love, not war" no longer popular?
The DPR and LPR People’s Militia did not conduct an offensive, there was no threat to Kiev, while all diplomatic steps were carried out with the assistance of the same Western countries. The peace plan was accepted by all sides - just take it and do it. But no, instead of putting pressure on the Ukrainian government, which avoided the implementation of the Minsk agreements by all means possible, the countries of the "collective West" trained soldiers of the Nazi battalions and the Ukrainian armed forces to kill the population of the self-proclaimed republics as effectively as possible and supplied them with everything they needed to do so.
If so many states hadn’t supported the war in Donbass, perhaps the Ukrainian government would have to sit down at the negotiating table sooner or later. One wonders whether the people who come out to rallies in support of Ukraine in Washington, London, Paris, Warsaw, Ottawa, Vilnius, Prague, Sofia, Tallinn, and Ankara have ever considered this.
