In the first few weeks of the Russian operations in Crimea, Ukraine’s armed forces submitted specific requests for military support to the United States and NATO. Months later, many of those requests have gone unfulfilled.

The Daily Beast's Eli Lake reports:

In early March, Ukraine’s military begged the U.S. for the simplest of gear to help them cope with an advancing Russia. Washington’s response was a long, slow pause.

Usually when foreign militaries ask the United States for equipment, it’s the kind of high-tech weaponry for which America is known: fighter jets, advanced radars, and missile systems. But for Ukraine in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Crimea, the list was more basic: boots, uniforms, body armor, and spare tires. And yet, for more than two months, these simple requests have gone unfulfilled. [...]

The list of requested materiel provides a window into a hollow and outmatched Ukrainian military. And the document shows why Kiev is losing the fight against the upstart civilian militias U.S. and Western leaders say are supported and paid by Russian intelligence officers and special operations forces.

As Lake highlights, Ukraine’s military has glaring deficiencies in logistical equipment, specialty training, and vehicles, forcing Ukraine to turn to other nations and online fundraising efforts for desperately needed support. Though Joe Biden promised Ukraine on April 22 that the U.S. would send important military equipment, he did not specify that we would provide some of the more rudimentary needs, like those requested over the next few weeks.

While the administration has provided meals-ready-to-eat (MREs) and has allocated $18 million for military assistance, that money has specific limits, and many of Ukraine’s non-military needs have gone unmet. Addintionally, Lake argues that the administration has not been forthcoming to the public about Ukraine’s request:

But the Obama administration has also not shared with the public the full extent of the aid that Ukraine requested back in March. At an April 10 hearing, for example, Assistant Secretary of Defense of International Security Affairs Derek Chollet told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “The most urgent needs they have identified to us have been in the more non-lethal and humanitarian space, the MREs and the medical supplies in particular.”

Chollet’s remarks were not inaccurate, but they were also incomplete.

Read the full article here.