Kiev is close to running out of Stinger man-portable anti-aircraft missiles and Javelin anti-tank missiles, Ukraine’s ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova has told lawmakers in Washington.
“She made clear that they’re going to run out of Stingers and Javelins really fast,” Senator Chris Murphy told reporters after meeting between Markarova and House and Senate lawmakers Monday.
Markarova said she and US politicians had come to a “very good understanding,” and that “the United States has been very helpful in helping us supplying the financial assistance, defensive military assistance, but also a great leader of the anti-war coalition on sanctions.”
“We work actively with the administration, the president, and also with Congress on getting more weapons, so we need more weapons,” she stressed.
Representative Mike Quigley confirmed the request for more weapons supplies. “When you’re dealing with this kind of threat, hope and prayers matter. But when you’re dealing with Putin, hope and a Stinger and a Javelin are even better,” he said.
No No-Fly Zone
While approving the plea for more arms, lawmakers rejected a request by Kiev to set up a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
“Obviously the Ukrainians would like us to do everything. That includes a no-fly zone. But frankly, a no-fly zone means dog fights between American and Russian pilots, and that’s dangerous,” Representative Brad Sherman said. “Once you have Americans shooting at Russians and Russians shooting at Americans, you are down a very dangerous road,” he stressed.
The US approved the up to $350 million in additional weapons assistance to Kiev on Saturday, with the arms to include Stingers, Javelins, small arms and ammunition. Hundreds of the systems have already been sent to the country since 2017 after then-US President Donald Trump signed off on gifting lethal arms aid to the country, overriding his predecessor Barack Obama’s policy of delivering only non-lethal equipment.
The European Union committed a separate 450 million euro package of arms, including hundreds of Stinger missiles, anti-tank rocket launchers, howitzers, armoured vehicles, small arms, protective equipment, and fuel, over the weekend. EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said the cash would go to “high-calibre arms, anti-tanks, all kind of equipment.”
Kiev has also been wired hundreds of millions of dollars in fresh economic assistance from its Western patrons, and has set about recruiting a foreign legion of paid mercenaries. Hundreds of Westerners, including neo-Nazis and other far-right volunteers, have already served in Ukraine in the war in the Donbass in 2014 alongside ultranationalist volunteer battalions such as the Azov Regiment and the Right Sector.
The Russian military announced Friday that it had seized a large cache of Western-made sweapons, including Javelins and British-made MBT NLAW anti-tank missiles, in the course of its ongoing operation.
With much of Ukraine’s military infrastructure including military airfields knocked out in Russian precision airstrikes in the first days of the conflict, the majority of Western weapons deliveries, as well as members of the so-called ‘foreign legions’, are expected to enter Ukraine through its porous western border with Poland.
The Stinger is manufactured by Raytheon. Javelin is manufactured as a joint venture between Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.