Cheddar Politics breaks down recent developments in Russia's war on Ukraine with the help of foreign policy expert and former State Department official David Tafuri. He analyzes the amount and types of military aid the U.S. and NATO have provided so far, and what kind of aid Ukraine still needs. 

Cheddar Politics

NATO Supplying Ukraine During New Phase of Russia's Invasion

Welcome back to Cheddar politics. Russia is slowly escalating its attacks on the eastern front of Ukraine. After refocusing its assault on that Donbass region. Russian president Vladimir Putin also expanding its economic conflict with the West over sanctions by cutting off to european nations from natural gas. So joining us now to dig into the latest is David too furry. David is an equity partner with Aaron Fox Schiff, who focuses on international law. He's also a former State Department official and was the outside foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. David, thank you so much for joining us. Very impressive resume. You put me very much to shame, but I am going to ask you, we're going to dive right in. You recently said that all the questions about whether Ukraine is willing to fight to defend itself have already been answered right? We know that they will, that the only question remaining is whether NATO and the West will supply Ukraine with the weapons and training, it needs to be able to succeed in this war. Give give NATO in the West a grade on how you think they're doing so far to provide the military aid to Ukraine needs and even the extra stuff that it wants. So I said that a few weeks ago when I was in Ukraine and it was clear then, as I think it is clear now that the decisive factor will be whether Ukraine gets enough weapons and the type of weapons that they need in order to eventually push Russian troops out of Ukraine. What is clear is that they have the morale, the will and the commitment to fight. And they have a substantially large number of military age, males and women who are willing to fight. So the only limitation is whether they get the weapons and they get the training, they need to continue the fight. I think NATO is doing a pretty good job. And the U. S. And the other countries that are providing weapons have made it possible for Ukraine to resist Russia so far, they could not have done that without the advanced weaponry, especially the anti tank anti armor weapons that they've received from the US UK and other european countries. But I think we could do more and there are times when it feels like NATO is doing just enough to allow Ukraine to survive and to keep Russia from taking more territory, but not enough to allow Ukraine to push Russia out of the positions that it's in. When I was leaving Ukraine a few weeks ago, the thing that the Ukrainian government was most worried about was that Russia, which could not take big cities, was going to entrench itself in certain positions around the cities and fortify Those those entrenchment. And we see that happening some now in places in the southern Ukraine and also in eastern Ukraine, especially as it has also mounted an additional campaign in order to take more of the territory in eastern Ukraine. And so for Ukraine to be ultimately successful, then you need some different weapons systems in order to push Russian troops out. President Biden requested today, $33 billion dollars more in aid from Congress that could go to Ukraine. This would include more military aid and I think some additional weapons systems would be provided if that request is granted. So is that part of the more you're talking about, the more that NATO needs to do, just provide more types of artillery, more types of weapons? Or is it it's even beyond that? Well, they need more of the weapons they've already received, those antitank weapons. The in laws, the javelins are especially important. They also need more um anti aircraft weapons systems, more of the S- 300 which are actually Soviet made. But other NATO countries that are former Soviet partners could provide those to Ukraine and then those could be replaced with other systems by the U. S. And Western europe. So they need more of that because that is always being depleted in in in a war where there is constant action. But they also need weapons systems that they do not currently have. And this includes offensive weapons that they can use to push the Russian military out of the positions. They are entrenched in right now. Talk about Russia's new strategy because as you said, you said that a couple of weeks ago about Ukraine having the will to fight. I think that Russia has clearly coalesced around a strategy. Right Previously, it was like, let's spread across the whole country and see what we can get now. It's okay, let's take this Russian speaking, eastern part of the country and cut Ukraine off from the Black Sea. Why do you think that this is working so much better than around those major cities? Like Kiev? Like Kharkiv, even like Odessa, which is one of those southern cities. And does this portend a more protracted conflict as everyone sort of digs their heels in? I think it could pretend more protracted conflict. I think what Russia is following is the model that they used in Syria for instance, when they supported assad and assad was losing. Uh and rather than try to take back the whole country, they focused on one area at a time in Syria, they did the same thing in Chechnya as well. So Russia found itself overwhelmed by the Ukrainian resistance when it tried to take all of Ukraine and tried to take big cities like Kiev and Kharkiv and and it failed. And so now it's focusing on just one area of the east. You mentioned that the east is Russian speaking, I don't agree with that, most of the Eastern Ukraine, which is in Ukraine is the Ukrainian speaking, There are some uh you know, ethnic Russians there who also speak Russian, but the majority of people in Eastern Ukraine supported the Ukrainian government before 2014, when Russia backed the separatist effort. So it may be a little bit easier for Russia to uh, to attack the east because they've already been attacking it since 2014. They already have some supporters in Eastern Ukraine. They also, it's also right on the border with Russia, so it's easy to easier to supply resupply their troops and their military formations there. So that's part of the reason why they're focused on the east. They think it will be easier than other areas and if they can be successful in the east, then they would move on to a next section of Ukraine. I think that's likely what they will attempt to do and that's why it's so important to support the Ukrainian resistance in fighting back against the Russian ambitions in Eastern Ukraine. Well, David will have to see if biden is able to get that $33 billion state department official. Thank you so much for joining us.