Ukraine Needs More

Kyiv needs more weapons to defeat the Russian army, but the U.S. and its European allies still do not want to provide any more.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is at least addressing the problem when he says that it is our duty to ensure that we provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs. Unfortunately, he did not say what the alliance’s goal is with the arms shipments. Currently, there is only enough Western military aid to stop the Russian army from advancing but not enough to push the invaders out of the country, let alone to retake the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula, as Ukraine wants to do.

The Western allies of the invaded country should have another conversation about what they want to achieve. After all, that determines what they deliver. If they do not want Russia to win, then they don’t need to increase their engagement. But in that case, they will have to get used to the images of a war of attrition that usually loses the support of their citizens at home over time.

If the U.S. and its European allies want Ukraine to win, they will have to deliver more weapons to make the Ukrainian army more effective and to compensate for the disadvantage it has in numbers. Delivering more weapons is the best choice among bad options. Unfortunately, the political will for it is lacking.