by tyler | Oct 17, 2023 | CNN, politics
The US secretly provided Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles, according to two US officials, providing Ukraine with a significant new capability that could allow its forces to hit new Russian targets that were previously out of reach.
The confirmation came on Tuesday after images of the missiles’ submunitions inside Ukraine began circulating on social media.
US officials indicated to CNN on Tuesday that Ukraine has already used the ATACMS, some variants of which have a maximum range of approximately 186 miles, to attack Russia’s Berdyansk and Luhansk airfields in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian military tweeted on Tuesday that the attack destroyed several Russian helicopters, an ammunition depot and an air defense launcher, but did not specify whether they used ATACMS to do it.
It is not clear when the US missiles were provided. But the US decided in recent weeks to send them quietly because they wanted to take the Russians by surprise, especially after months of public back-and-forth over whether President Joe Biden would agree to send the weapons, an official said. The Russians are aware of the range of the missiles and the US was concerned they would move equipment and weapons out of reach before the missiles could be used, the official said.
The US has sent some weapons secretly in the past. In August 2022, the Pentagon acknowledged that it had sent HARM anti-radiation missiles to Ukraine unannounced.
But the US typically announces significant weapons packages to Ukraine, including when it sent Patriot air defense systems last year and cluster munitions this year. Asked repeatedly over the last several weeks about the status of the systems, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the US has “nothing to announce.” That was a deliberate choice of words, officials said.
The Pentagon said it was referring all questions about the ATACMS to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Discussions about sending the systems picked up substantially last month, CNN previously reported. US officials had previously been reluctant to send the long-range surface-to-surface guided missiles amid fears about escalating the conflict as they could potentially be fired into Russia itself. That concern largely waned over the last several months, however, since Ukraine demonstrated that it was not using other US-provided weapons to attack territory inside Russia, officials said.
During a visit to Washington, DC, in September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his request for the ATACMS during a meeting with Biden and Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said at the time that “when we talk about long-range missiles for Ukraine, it is not just a whim, but a real need. The effectiveness of the army on the battlefield, as well as the lives of the military and our progress depend on it.”
The US announced a new aid package to Ukraine while Zelensky was visiting that did not include ATACMS. But asked again earlier this month about providing the missiles, Biden told reporters, “I have spoken with Zelensky, and everything he’s asked for, we’ve worked out.”
Currently, the maximum range of US weapons committed to Ukraine is around 93 miles with the ground-launched small diameter bomb. Ukraine also has the UK-provided long-range Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of about 155 miles. ATACMS missiles are fired from HIMARS rocket launchers, the same type of vehicle that launches the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) missiles that Ukraine already employs.
by tyler | Oct 11, 2023 | CNN, politics
Concern is growing within the Pentagon over the potential need to stretch its increasingly scarce ammunition stockpiles to support Ukraine and Israel in two separate wars, according to multiple US defense officials.
At the moment Ukraine and Israel require different weapons: Ukraine wants massive amounts of artillery ammunition while Israel has requested precision guided aerial munitions and Iron Dome interceptors.
But if Israel launches a ground incursion into Gaza, the Israeli military will create a new and entirely unexpected demand for 155mm artillery ammunition and other weapons at a time when the US and its allies and partners have been stretched thin from more than 18 months of fighting in Ukraine.
Israel has its own capable industrial base and produces many of its own advanced weapons, but a prolonged ground campaign could drain the country’s stockpiles, officials said. The Pentagon’s Joint Staff and Transportation Command have been working around the clock since Hamas launched its war on Israel last weekend to identify extra stores of munitions around the world and how to move them to Israel quickly, officials said.
On Monday, a senior defense official said the Pentagon is contacting US arms manufacturers to speed up existing Israeli orders for military equipment that may have been considered less urgent just days ago. For months, the US has been working to expand its own defense industrial base to supply Ukraine and replenish US and western stockpiles, but those efforts are still ongoing.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin defended the ability of the US to support both Ukraine and Israel, as the US announced another $200 million in security assistance for Kyiv, including artillery ammunition.
“We can do both and we will do both,” said Austin on Tuesday at a press conference in Brussels, when asked whether the US can support both Israel and Ukraine militarily. “We’re going to do what’s necessary to help our allies and partners, and we’re going to also do what’s necessary to make sure that we maintain the capability to protect our interests and defend our country.”
Israel front and center at Ukraine meeting
The possibility of a ground invasion and the demands it may place on the US industrial base come as Austin and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown are in Belgium for a meeting of the contact group, an organization of about 50 countries, including Israel, that has come together to supply Ukraine.
The sudden ferocity of fighting in Gaza will put Israel front and center at the meeting, officials said, with one describing it as “the most important contact group we’ve ever had.”
In 2014, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urgently requested ammunition for tanks and other equipment as Israel’s last ground incursion into Gaza dragged on. The request was immediately approved by former President Barack Obama, and the equipment was pulled from US reserve stockpiles in Israel.
That stockpile is not as robust as it once was, however. The US moved hundreds of thousands of munitions out of its reserves in Israel earlier this year as the US and its allies were searching the world for ammunition to provide to Ukraine, prompting concerns among Defense Department officials and crystallizing the challenges the US faces as it grapples with two wars abroad, according to a source familiar with discussions.
Ukraine is using thousands of artillery shells as it tries to retake territory occupied by Russia – far more than Israel would use in a ground incursion into Gaza – but US and western stockpiles have been diminished by the need to supply Ukraine. Netanyahu vowed to carry out a “prolonged” campaign against Gaza, one that could put extant US stockpiles under more pressure than they already face.
Defense officials are also anxious about the dysfunction in Congress and whether lawmakers will approve additional funding for US support to Israel and Ukraine.
“One thing that is really important in terms of the munitions in particular and our ability to support both potentially the Israelis and the Ukrainians simultaneously is additional funding from Congress to be able to increase our capacity, in terms of our capacity to expand production and then to also pay for the munitions themselves,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told reporters on Monday.
A senior defense official said on Monday that the US is “surging support” to Israel, including air defense and munitions, and is working with the US defense industry to expedite the shipment of pending Israeli orders for military equipment.
The official said that the administration currently has the resources, authorities and funding it needs to continue its support for Israel, but said officials need Congress to ensure that additional funds will be available to respond to crises and contingencies as and when they arise.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Wednesday that “we’re certainly running out of runway” to support both Ukraine and Israel with the current appropriations.
“The sooner that there’s a speaker of the house, obviously, the more comfortable we’ll all be in terms of being able to support Israel and Ukraine right now,” Kirby told reporters. “Because of existing appropriations and existing authorities, we’ve been okay. But that’s not going to last forever. I think in the immediate term, right now, we can continue to support – with the authorities in the appropriations we have – Israel and Ukraine. But you know, we’re certainly running out of runway.”
by tyler | Oct 4, 2023 | CNN, politics
The US will transfer thousands of seized Iranian weapons and rounds of ammunition to Ukraine, in a move that could help to alleviate some of the critical shortages facing the Ukrainian military as it awaits more money and equipment from the US and its allies, US officials said.
US Central Command has already transferred over one million rounds of seized Iranian ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces, it announced on Wednesday. The transfer was conducted on Monday, CENTCOM said in a press release.
“The government obtained ownership of these munitions on July 20, 2023, through the Department of Justice’s civil forfeiture claims against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” the statement says.
The Justice Department announced in March that it was seeking the forfeiture of one million rounds of Iranian ammunition, thousands of proximity fuses for rocket-propelled grenades, and thousands of pounds of propellant for rocket-propelled grenades that the Navy seized from Iran as it was in transit to Yemen.
“These munitions were originally seized by U.S. Central Command naval forces from the transiting stateless dhow MARWAN 1, Dec. 9, 2022. The munitions were being transferred from the IRGC to the Houthis in Yemen in violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216,” the statement says.
The Biden administration has for months been weighing how to legally send the seized weapons, which are stored in CENTCOM facilities across the Middle East, to the Ukrainians.
Over the past year, the US Navy has seized thousands of Iranian assault rifles and more than one million rounds of ammunition from vessels used by Iran to ship weapons to Yemen. The seizures, frequently carried out with regional partner forces, target small stateless vessels on routes historically used to smuggle weapons to the Houthis in Yemen.
In mid-January, the US assisted French forces in the seizure of 3,000 assault rifles headed from Iran to Yemen, as well as 23 anti-tank guided missiles. Following the seizure, the US took custody of the confiscated weapons.
That illegal weapons interdiction capped a two month period in which the US and its partners seized a total of 5,000 weapons and 1.6 million rounds of ammunition, according to Central Command.
Justice Department and defense officials have been working together to find a legal pathway to send the weapons to Ukraine, officials said, and one way is through the US’ civil forfeiture authorities.
The Justice Department has filed at least two forfeiture complaints against seized Iranian ammunition and weapons this year. Apart from the announcement in March, DOJ announced in July that that it was seeking the forfeiture of “over 9,000 rifles, 284 machine guns, approximately 194 rocket launchers, over 70 anti-tank guided missiles, and over 700,000 rounds of ammunition” seized from Iran by the US Navy.
“At the end of the day, Ukraine needs various supplies for the war effort, and while this isn’t a solution to all of Ukraine’s military needs, it will provide critical support,” said Jonathan Lord, a senior fellow and director of the Middle East security program at the Center for a New American Security who pushed the US to send the seized Iranian weapons to Ukraine in an op-ed in February.
Lord added that the move could also have implications for Iran’s relationship with Russia.
“For over a year, Iranian UAVs in the hands of the Russian military have been used to attack and murder Ukrainian civilians,” Lord said. “There is poetic justice in Ukraine utilizing seized Iranian weapons to defend its people against Russia’s criminal invasion and abuses. Additionally, this policy may put greater pressure on the burgeoning relationship between Moscow and Tehran.”
The decision could drive a wedge between Iran and Russia, which have formed a de facto defense partnership over the last several months, with Iran supplying Russia with drones for its war in Ukraine and Russia cooperating with Iran on missile and air defense production.
by tyler | Oct 2, 2023 | CNN, politics
President Joe Biden appeared to suggest over the weekend that Democrats had reached a new deal with embattled House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Ukraine aid – a major omission from a funding bill that managed to avert a government shutdown.
“We just made one about Ukraine. So, we’ll find out,” Biden said when a reporter asked whether he would trust McCarthy when the “next deal comes around.”
The remark left open the prospect Biden had secured some new agreement from McCarthy to take up new funding for Ukraine, despite opposition from some hardline Republicans.
The comments prompted Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz – a Florida Republican who is promising to take action this week to try to oust McCarthy from his speakership post – to call on McCarthy to share more about “his secret side deal with Joe Biden on Ukraine. I’ll be listening.”
Multiple Democratic lawmakers serving on the House Foreign Affairs Committee told CNN on Monday that they had no reason to believe that McCarthy had made a fresh commitment to the White House over the weekend on Ukraine funding.
“I haven’t seen or heard of specific assurances,” one member said.
Another said they assumed Biden had been referring to an earlier government funding agreement that was reached over the summer.
“I do not believe there was a new assurance issued,” the lawmaker said.
Pressed Monday on what specific assurances Biden had secured on Ukraine aid from McCarthy, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre repeatedly demurred.
“There’s obviously bipartisan support to continue the funding to Ukraine,” she said when asked whether Biden was referring to any specific agreement from McCarthy to take up new Ukraine funding.
“What we’re seeing currently from Congress is there has been – there has been overwhelming support,” she added later, declining to say what exactly Biden was referring to when he told reporters he’d made a deal with McCarthy on Ukraine.
“I’m not going to go beyond what the president said,” she said.
Asked whether the White House had engaged in any backchannel negotiations with the speaker on Ukraine, she suggested it wasn’t necessary.
And she declined to detail any one-on-one conversations Biden has held on Ukraine.
“I just don’t have anything to confirm,” she said, without ruling it out.
Speaking on Capitol Hill earlier Monday, McCarthy told reporters he didn’t interpret the president’s remarks as implying there was a new deal.
“I don’t think the president implied that at all,” McCarthy said, adding: “I believe Ukraine is very important. I have always supported arming Ukraine – that’s not sending money to Ukraine, that’s arming Ukraine the weaponry to defend. But I think it’s very important with the number of Americans who are dying that we get the border done.”
The speaker later doubled down in remarks to reporters: “There is no side deal, so I don’t know who is bringing that up.”
The administration has worked since Saturday’s passage of the funding measure to shore up allies, reiterating the wide bipartisan support for Ukraine that still remains in Congress.
Biden was expected to speak with allies in the coming days to reiterate the point, according to people familiar with the matter. The White House said it did not have any calls to preview.
In the lead-up to Saturday, administration officials had lobbied intensely for new Ukraine funding to be included in a short-term spending bill. A top official from the Pentagon told lawmakers in a letter on Friday that the Department of Defense “has exhausted nearly all available security assistance funding for Ukraine,” offering stark warnings about the battlefield effects of failing to pass new assistance.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had also made appeals ahead of the spending deadline to include new Ukraine funding.
by tyler | Sep 27, 2023 | CNN, europe
Russia is formally seeking to rejoin the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, nearly 18 months after it was suspended from the body following its invasion of Ukraine.
The country is listed on the UN website as a candidate for the election of members of the council for the 2024-2026 term, with a vote due to take place on October 10.
Any move to reinstate Russia would be met with fury from the West, with several leading NATO states repeatedly insisting that Moscow’s illegal invasion of a neighboring state should disqualify it from membership of international bodies. A US spokesperson on Wednesday called the bid “preposterous.”
Russia has been accused of a huge number of human rights abuses over the course of its war in Ukraine, and the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for its President Vladimir Putin over an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia.
According to Russia’s position paper, which CNN obtained, Russia considers the Human Rights Council as a “key body in the United Nations systems.”
The position paper, which Russia is circulating to UN members to drum up support, states that Moscow “believes it is important to prevent the increasing trend of turning the Human Rights Council into the instrument, which serves political wills of one group of countries punishing non-loyal governments for their independent internal and external policy.”
Russia was removed from the body in April 2022, weeks after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Membership of the council is based on equitable geographical distribution, with two vacant seats in the Eastern European States regional group. Russia, along with Albania and Bulgaria, is listed as having announced their candidacy for that region so far.
Russia’s position paper claimed it would “firmly promote principles of cooperation and strengthening of constructive mutually respectful dialogue” if re-elected to the body.
But Western countries have already strongly pushed back against the effort. “We hope UN members will firmly reject its preposterous candidacy as they overwhelmingly did last year,” a US spokesman told CNN.
“Russia has committed violations of international humanitarian law and crimes against humanity in Ukraine, as well as violations and abuses of human rights in Russia, including the arbitrary arrests of Russians endeavoring to exercise their freedom of expression to condemn Putin’s brutal war,” the spokesman said.
“In fact, the Council created a Special Rapporteur last October on the human rights situation in Russia, further demonstrating Russia’s unfitness for membership on the Council.”
A Human Rights Council commission said on Monday that there is “continuous evidence that Russian forces are “committing war crimes in Ukraine,” alleging that its attacks on the country include “unlawful attacks with explosive weapons, attacks harming civilians, torture, sexual and gender-based violence, and attacks on energy infrastructure.”
In the vote to suspend Russia from the council during the April 2022 UN General Assembly, 93 of the UN’s 193 countries supported the move to remove Moscow, while 24 voted against and 58 abstained.
China, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Syria and Vietnam, alongside Russia, were among those opposing the move, while Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Egypt and Saudi Arabia were among the abstentions.
Russia had joined the council in January 2021, as one of 15 countries elected to serve a three-year term.
It became the first country to be removed from the council since Libya, in 2011, following the repression of political protesters by its then-leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Russia remains one of five permanent members of the UN’s Security Council, and no clear legal framework exists to remove it from that post.
Moscow last took the presidency of that council, which rotates among the 15 members on a monthly basis, in April.
