U.S. provides Ukraine with latest supply of defense armaments

The U.S. State Department decided on June 17 to sell
possibly to Ukraine up to 16 Mark VI patrol boats and related equipment for an
estimated cost of USD 600 mln, according to a news release on the U.S. Defense
Security Cooperation Agency website. This equipment includes 32 MSI Seahawk A2
gun systems, 20 electro-optics infrared radar (FLIR), 16 long-range acoustic
devices (LRAD), 16 identification friend or foe (IFF) systems, and 40 MK44
cannons. The agency delivered the required certification notifying the U.S.
Congress of the possible sale the same day. The same day, the U.S. Embassy in
Ukraine confirmed on its Facebook page the arrival of more than USD 60 mln in
military equipment, including Javelin anti-tank missile systems, to transfer to
the Ukrainian army. The U.S. State Department approved the sale of 150 Javelins
and related equipment in early October for USD 39 mln.

NATO’s recognition on June 12 of Ukraine as the newest
member of its Enhanced Opportunities Program was done by default, Ukrainian
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba confirmed in a radio interview on June 16. That
means it was considered to be approved lest any member-state register its
opposition, which some influential players were “itching to do,” he said.
Though Hungary has blocked for two years meetings of the Ukraine-NATO
commission, it didn’t oppose admitting Ukraine into EOP. In response to Ukraine
joining EOP, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned on June 16
that the event doesn’t promote improving security and stability in Europe, as
reported by the TASS news agency. “We always very carefully view the approach
of NATO military infrastructure to our borders. We are forced to use the
respective, necessary measures to ensure our own security in relation to that,”
he said.

The President’s Office has drafted new legislation on
the special order of local governance in certain districts of the Donetsk and
Luhansk regions, which includes the Steinmeier formula agreed upon at the
Normandy Four summit in December, office head Andriy Yermak said in an
interview published by the lb.ua news site on June 17. The heads of state of
E.U. member-states will discuss the status of the fulfillment of the Minsk
Accords at a video conference today, said E.U. Council President Charles
Michel, as reported by the eurointegration.com.ua news site. Meanwhile, the
next Ukraine-E.U. summit has been scheduled for Oct. 1, at which an agreement
on a common air space will be signed, the President’s Office confirmed this
week, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine.

An estimated three Ukrainian soldiers were killed in
warfare in Donbas since June 15 this week. Another eight were injured, as
reported by the Joint Forces Operation press service.

Zenon Zawada: These
incidents confirm the war in Donbas remains active. Moreover, they confirm the
war in Donbas is a battleground between Russian and the U.S. interests. Just as
the terrorists in Donbas would have been defeated in 2014 without Russian
intervention, Ukraine’s resources would have been exhausted after five years of
warfare if not for U.S. support.

Amid this conflict, which is slowly but gradually
intensifying, the Zelensky administration has adopted a foreign policy of
trying to appease Russia, and pro-Russian forces, for as much as the West will
allow it to do so. This essentially means that pro-Russian forces have been
allow to expand their offensive in those spheres of Ukraine where the Western
powers have no ability to stop it. In recent months, this has been expanded
control of Ukrainian corporations, mass media and the prosecutor general’s
office.

All the while, the Zelensky administration is
continuing to pursue Euro-Atlantic integration, IMF cooperation and military
cooperation with the West. It’s an approach based strictly on political convenience
and expediency that many observers – including us – believe will implode, with
the high potential for destabilization of Ukraine’s situation even further.