By Logan Williams, Warrior Editorial Fellow
Ukraine has continually proven its ability to survive numerous brutal assaults by the Russian invader; the Ukrainian freedom fighters have withstood some of the most inhumane tactics used by modern militaries, in defense of the ideal of a free, liberal, and democratic Ukraine — despite the relentlessness of the Russian soldier, who has begun to resemble more beast than man.
However, the United States political upheaval is threatening to single-handedly defeat the Ukrainian people’s self-defense efforts, permanently destroying the dreams of a free Ukraine — a nation, composed of people free to determine its own future, and a state free from external colonial aggression.
The United States Congress is still divided over the continued delivery of aid to Ukraine, largely because partisan extremists have attempted to obstruct that aid at every turn. The result of this obstruction is that Ukraine no longer has the capability to repair Western equipment damaged in combat. Nor, is there any remaining draw-down funding available to replace crucial weapons systems with more shipments.
This is the unfortunate reality despite the fact that Ukraine’s Army has proven their ability to skillfully utilize American equipment, to maximum effect.
Terrifyingly, Russia seems to be winning the war of attrition, at least by some metrics. Russia may be losing more equipment than Ukraine but, as a Business Insider article reported, it seems to be replacing tanks about as quickly as it looses them — producing at a rate of about 100 tanks a month. Tanks are not the only piece of equipment which Russia has proven able to rapidly replace. Another article published by Business Insider states that Russia has successfully boosted its production of long-range munitions, replacing those which it had already used.
These two cases are a part of a larger trend; Russia has proven its ability to mobilize its industrial base for wartime production, and the shortages with which the Russian Army grappled during the Spring and Summer 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive, have all but vanished.
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Unlike Russia, Ukraine’s ability to compete in a war of attrition is entirely dependent upon the fickle whims of outsiders. Ukraine once had its own indigenous defense industry, the remnant of the militarism of the Soviet-era, but most of the requisite infrastructure was located in Ukraine’s industrial East, which is either occupied by Russian forces, under constant bombardment by Russian drones and munitions, or entirely destroyed.
Additionally, the Russian Army has proven itself to be able to learn from its mistakes and adapt, albeit incredibly slowly — and these adaptations almost always involve inhumane brutality.
These things foreshadow a macabre reality: if the United States does not act fast to free up significant aid to Ukraine, enough aid to actually decisively win this war, than we may be in danger of handing Russia a victory and helping it restore its former empire of tyranny, oppression, and mass murder.
Logan Williams currently studies at the University of Connecticut. He is an International Affairs Researcher; Work Published in Newspapers, Magazines, and Journals, Such As: Geopolitics Magazine, Modern Diplomacy, Tufts University’s The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Democracy Paradox, Diario Las Américas, International Affairs Forum, Fair Observer, History Is Now Magazine, UNC at Chapel Hill’s American Diplomacy, The Center for Military Modernization’s Warrior Maven Magazine,
