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Revealing how the West ships support weapons to Ukraine

(Dan Tri) – The US and its Western allies must very secretly transport weapons and military equipment to support Ukraine, because this is a complex and risky operation because of the risk of being discovered by Russia.

Revealing how the West ships support weapons to Ukraine - 1

Ukrainian soldiers load boxes of US-made Stinger missiles onto a truck on February 13 (Image: Getty).

According to The Conversation, Since November 2021, the US has provided 3 aid shipments military for Ukraine, taking from stockpiles at bases across Europe and shipping them to Kiev.

The United States has supplied Ukraine with a variety of weapons, from rifles and armor to Stinger missiles capable of shooting down helicopters or fighters, as well as Javelin anti-tank missiles.

But since Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine, this job of transporting military goods is no longer easy because conflicts occur everywhere.

How do weapons from US depots at its military bases in Europe reach Ukrainian soldiers? What steps are involved in the logistics of transporting military equipment from Europe to the operational area?

The Conversation Citing experts as saying, the civilian and military supply chains are the same. In the current war situation, speed of delivery is important to Ukraine.

According to the sources, weapons and equipment entering Ukraine are moved quickly in case Russian intelligence identifies or predicts potential routes. If confidentiality and security are not guaranteed, the risk of detection and transportation disruption is very high.

Russia’s Defense Ministry warned that Western countries’ transfer of weapons to Ukraine in response to Moscow’s military campaign was a “big mistake”.

“This will prolong the conflict, increase the number of casualties and will not affect the outcome of the operation. The real goal of such aid trips is not to support Ukraine, but to drag it down. into the military conflict that will last “until the last Ukrainian remains”, the head of the Operations Department of the General Staff of the Russian Army Sergei Rudskoy announced at a press conference on March 25.

According to Rudskoy, since Russia began its military operation in Ukraine, Western countries have shipped more than 100 artillery units, nearly 900 mobile air defense missile systems and 3,800 anti-tank weapons to Kiev.

The military hardware that Ukraine needs is now in stock at US bases across Europe. After the goods are removed from the warehouse, they will be transported by air, truck or rail on the “first leg” to somewhere in the territory of a NATO country bordering western or southwestern Ukraine, including Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.

Shipping activities in this first leg must be secret to avoid the risk of being discovered by the Russian side and predicting the destination.

In military jargon, this first destination is called a “storage area” (the area where troops gather to prepare a new job). To ensure the security of the arsenal, the storage area may be an weapons depot or a facility located in a NATO base before being transported into Ukraine. And even more important, the leaders of the United States, NATO and Ukraine need to decide whether to use only one or more storage areas.

If using only one storage area, it is not too difficult because it is easy to plan and implement. However, that can pose many risks as Russia is easy to detect and easy to attack. Meanwhile, if multiple storage areas are used, planning and execution will be more complicated.

After deciding on the storage area, the supporting party needs to make a plan to coordinate the delivery of weapons and equipment to the Ukrainian army. That is when Ukraine will take on the responsibility of transporting equipment from the territory of a NATO country to the next areas in their country. And in this leg is the need for even more absolute security.

In the current situation of hostilities, Ukraine cannot transport supplies by air and as a result has to use land convoys to travel from the western border to the next point in the supply chain.

Kiev is also unable to deploy large-scale convoys to transport goods because of the risk of being detected by Russian attack helicopters or warplanes. Instead, weapons and equipment are broken up into smaller shipments and transported in batches.

Since it is not possible to use weapons such as helicopters to protect the convoys due to Russia’s air superiority, Ukraine must ensure the safety of the convoys by placing more surface-to-air missiles. unlike the Stinger that the US is offering along the routes that vehicles pass through.

Ukraine has also arranged units that can clear the way for the convoy when it encounters any obstacles such as burning military vehicles or destroyed tanks.

And in the last leg, usually the final gathering areas are in the big cities. The “last leg” in the combat zone is much more dangerous because of the ongoing war situation.

Therefore, logistics units traveling the last distance also need to be strictly protected. When the convoy arrived, the shipments were broken up for easy distribution to the forces fighting on the battlefield.

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