U.S. and EU Step Up the Military Support for Ukraine. Where Is Romania Standing in This Picture?

Publicat de hdaraban, 14 aprilie 2022, 00:52 / actualizat: 1 mai 2022, 10:43

The United States of America and European Union announced this week that will enrich their military support for Ukraine after Russia’s invasion.

The gesture comes after the intensification in the last month of Kiev’s lobby. Repeatedly, Ukrainians, at different levels, asked for heavy weaponry in order to help their soldiers to fight more effectively with the Russian troops.

In response, this week, U.S. announced that will offer additional military assistance to Ukraine. In fact, President Joe Biden stated that the new package of $800 million worth will include heavy artillery. The decision of enriching the American support came after a phone call with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zeleskiy. This brings the total American military aid given to Kiev to more than $2.5 billion since the beginning of the conflict.

Helicopters and Artillery for Ukraine

 The new package of $800 million includes 11 Mi-17 helicopters, 18 155mm howitzers, counter-artillery radars, armoured personnel carriers and 300 additional „Switchblade” drones. The aid comes with a new dimension because is the first time howitzers are provided to Ukraine by the United States. On this topic, Pentagon officials said that some of the military pieces will require additional training for Ukrainian forces not accustomed to using American equipment.

According to Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, from the beginning of Russia’s invasion, U.S. and its allies supplied Ukraine with 60,000 anti-tank systems and more than 25,000 anti-aircraft missiles.

European Union’s Aid. Weapons and Help for Ukrainian Prosecutors

A similar step was made by European Union. Brussels decided this week to boost the aid given to Ukraine with €500 million meaning a total of €1.5 billion since the beginning of the conflict. The new delivery will include weapons, protection equipment and medical materials.

On this subject, European Commission Vice-President Josep Borrell, who is also the chief of EU foreign policy, said that the next few weeks will be decisive and EU has a crucial objective to intensify the military support for Ukraine.

At a different level EU and the member states try to coordinate their actions in order to help Ukrainian and International Criminal Court’s prosecutors to gather evidence of possible crimes committed by Russia. On this matter, the European Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders has sent to the 27 members of EU a list of requests formulated by the Ukrainian General Attorney who asked for investigators and forensic experts specialized document war crimes.

Good Neighbors, Heavy Weapons

Regarding the military support for Ukraine it is important to emphasize the steps taken by certain neighbor states. One of these is Slovakia who recently gave to Ukrainian its S-300 air defense system.

More, at the beginning of the week, Prime Minister Eduard Heger said that are talks between Bratislava and Kiev regarding the possibility of providing MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine. Beside air defense system and war planes, the two parts announced that there are negotiations for a sale of Slovakian Zuzana self-propelled howitzers.

But Where Is Romania Standing in This Picture?

Although it didn’t stand out in terms of military support, Romania is seen as an essential player in the region when are taking in consideration two aspects. One of these is the hosting of refugees who ran because of the war. The aid given to them by Romania and Romanians is very consistent.

The second element is related to the economic opportunities which the Constanța Harbor offers to Ukraine. In an interview for Radio Iași the President of Security and Global Affairs Association Angela Grămadă emphasized that Constnata Harbor with its infrastructure can help Ukraine to export and import goods. This element is essential taking in to account that all Ukrainian ports are under Russia’s maritime blockade.

Romania saw the importance of this aspect and decided to give a boost by announcing this week that it will finance (€40 million) certain activities to improve the condition of railway infrastructure which serves the Romanian port.