‘IT’S NOT JUST THE STUFF THAT MATTERS’: The inspiring fight that underdog Ukrainian troops have put up against Europe’s biggest, best-equipped army is the result of the concerted effort by the U.S. and its allies to train and equip the Ukrainian military in the years since Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, argue Pentagon and NATO officials.
“Eight years of training for Ukrainian armed forces has made an enormous difference in their battlefield competency, in their capability. And that wasn’t just the United States — U.K., the Canadians, and other allies were also involved in that,” said spokesman John Kirby at the Pentagon.
“Over the years, allies have trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops, provided modern equipment, and supported reforms,” said Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at a news conference at NATO headquarters. “The Ukrainian forces are now bigger, better-equipped, better-trained, and better-led than ever before. And they are putting their training and their equipment to use on the front lines, with courage that has inspired the world.”
The training set the stage for the U.S. to pour some $2 billion in military aid into Ukraine, including the Javelin and Stinger missiles that have been used to devastating effect, stopping the armored assault of Kyiv in its tracks and forcing the Russians to retrench and regroup.
“When these things are arriving, they’re able to get into the hands of Ukrainian armed forces, and they’re able to use them in fairly short order,” said Kirby. “Don’t forget that it’s not just the stuff that matters. It’s their ability to use this stuff. And that didn’t happen by accident … that prowess that agility … that very much was by design, because of eight years of very quality training that they received.”
UKRAINE STRIKES FUEL DEPOT INSIDE RUSSIAN TERRITORY: LOCAL OFFICIAL
‘THEY NEED IT QUICKER’: The touting of the combat acumen of the Ukrainian forces comes as the Pentagon is facing pointed questions from lawmakers, who question why the flow of hardware isn’t faster — and from Republicans, in particular, who say the Biden administration should have sent the weapons sooner, before the invasion began.
“They need more, and they need it quicker,” said Idaho Rep. Jim Risch, ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Fox. “So no, I’m not satisfied. I met with Ukrainian members of parliament [Wednesday] night, some of them, and they obviously are pressing us to do the same.”
During a House Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday, Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, a former Green Beret, quizzed Supreme NATO Commander Gen. Tod Wolters about whether Biden was too slow to act:
“The continual message that we heard out in Kyiv was that the weapons that the Ukrainians were asking for, as recently as December, would’ve been too escalatory, including the stingers,” said Waltz. “General, would it have made a difference if the Ukrainians had had Stingers months ago, had the opportunity to train on them, and had them on Day One? Would that have made an operational difference in their ability to fight?”
“Congressman, it could have,” Wolters replied.
PENTAGON SAYS ARTILLERY FIRE AND AIRSTRIKES IN KYIV CONTINUE
‘FOUR DAYS IS PRETTY QUICK’: While the Pentagon is hesitant to say too much publicly about how it’s getting supplies to Kyiv and other areas of Ukraine via land routes, it insists the resupply operation is in high gear.
“It’s happening as you and I are actually talking right now,” said Kirby at yesterday’s Pentagon briefing. “The $800 million that the president approved just over a week or 10 days ago, those shipments are already arriving. In fact, from the time he signed the order to the first shipment going on its way was like four days.”
“We completed the $350 million that President Biden authorized a month or so ago, that was completed in a record three weeks or so, which is unheard of. The $200 million that he approved, not long after, that’s pretty much all in now.”
“I’m not going to talk about the ground routes and how things are getting into Ukraine, as you can understand,” Kirby said. “But I will tell you that things aren’t sitting long at these intermediate staging shipment sites before they’re getting picked up by convoys and taken into Ukraine.”
“Four days is pretty quick,” he said.
PENTAGON PUSHES BACK ON LAWMAKERS’ CONCERNS ABOUT SLOW UKRAINIAN AID
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HAPPENING TODAY: Both Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley will be on hand at the Tampa Convention Center this afternoon as Marine Gen. Kenneth Frank McKenzie hands over command of the Florida-based U.S. Central Command to Army Gen. Erik Kurilla.
The change-of-command ceremony will be streamed live on the Pentagon’s website at 1 p.m. Both Austin and Milley are scheduled to speak along with McKenzie and Kurilla.
“The secretary will be going down there to officiate over that ceremony to note the incredible work that Central Command continues to do for our national defense, but also the leadership of General McKenzie over these last several years, and in particular, just in the last several months with respect to leading a truly historic evacuation out of Afghanistan,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.
In addition to executing the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, McKenzie, who has led the CENTCOM since March 2018, oversaw the transition of the coalition mission in Iraq and Syria and the elimination of terrorist leaders, such as Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and Qassem Soleimani.
Kurilla, who was confirmed by the Senate in February, was the commander of the 18th Airborne Corps in Fort Bragg, N.C. He previously served as CENTCOM’s chief of staff from August 2018 to September 2019.
AFGHANISTAN DEBACLE PLAYED ROLE IN PUTIN’S UKRAINE DECISION, GENERAL SAYS
BIDEN ON PUTIN’S ‘SELF-ISOLATING’: President Joe Biden said he’s not putting too much stock in U.S. intelligence suggesting Vladimir Putin has been misinformed by his generals, who are too fearful of the Russian president to tell him the truth about how badly the Russian military has performed in Ukraine.
“That’s an open question. There’s a lot of speculation, but he seems to be — I’m not saying this with a certainty — he seems to be self-isolating, and there’s some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers,” Biden said at a White House event where he announced the release of 1 million barrels of oil per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an effort to lower gasoline prices in the U.S.
“I don’t want to put too much stock in that at this time because we don’t have that much hard evidence,” Biden said.
AS PUTIN SOURS ON SERGEI SHOIGU, HARD-LINER TSAR NIKOLAI PATRUSHEV IS LIKELY TO RISE
FIRED: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has fired two of his top generals, accusing them of being “antiheroes” and “traitors,” reports Washington Examiner’s overnight editor Victor Nava, who, among his other duties, monitored Zelensky’s nightly video address.
“Today, another decision was made regarding antiheroes. Now I do not have time to deal with all the traitors. But gradually they will all be punished,” Zelensky said. “Those servicemen among senior officers who have not decided where their homeland is, who violate the military oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people.”
The two generals stripped of their rank are Naumov Andriy Olehovych, former chief of the Main Department of Internal Security of the Security Service of Ukraine, and Kryvoruchko Serhiy Oleksandrovych, the former chief of the Office of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Kherson region.
READ MORE: ZELENSKY FIRES TWO ‘TRAITOR’ GENERALS
LOGISTICS, LOGISTICS, LOGISTICS: One of the reasons the Ukrainian military has been so effective against the Russians is their tactic of focusing on attacking supply lines and cutting off resupply efforts, leaving dispirited Russian troops freezing in the field without food, fuel, and ammo.
The prime example was the “vaunted” convoy, a 40-mile traffic jam of Russian vehicles that never made it to the fight.
“They never really provided a resupply of any value to Russian forces that were assembling around Kyiv, never really came to their aid. The Ukrainians put a stop to that convoy pretty quickly, by being very nimble, knocking out bridges, hitting lead vehicles, stopping their movement,” said Kirby at the Pentagon.
“I honestly don’t have an update for you on the convoy,” he said. “I don’t have anything for you on that. I don’t even know if it still exists at this point.”
At yesterday’s hearing of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, ranking Republican Rob Wittman of Virginia said there is a lesson there that the Biden administration seems to be missing.
“Unfortunately, as I review our nation’s mobility forces, I see many areas that will cause dangerous parallels with the Russian logistics failures,” said Willman in his opening statement.
“For example, the Air Force has proposed to reduce our tanker force structure by 24 aircraft over the next two years; Navy continues to underinvest in the surge sealift forces, particularly harming the Army and the Marines; Navy and Marine Corps are programmed to pull the plug on the last of the Maritime Prepositioned Forces; and, while there has been much stated about the need to invest in our intratheater connectors, Army continues to reduce watercraft while Navy and Marine Corps’ efforts to support light amphibious warship and next generation logistics ship continue to slip to the right.”
INDUSTRY WATCH: The National Defense Industrial Association has named former Pentagon comptroller and Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist as its next president and CEO, effective May 1.
“David’s exemplary experience and stellar reputation make him the ideal leader for NDIA, and the Board and I could not be more pleased to have him join and lead the executive management team,” said NDIA Chairman retired Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: Zelensky fires two ‘traitor’ generals
Washington Examiner: Pentagon pushes back on lawmakers’ concerns about slow Ukrainian aid
Washington Examiner: Pentagon says artillery fire and airstrikes in Kyiv continue
Washington Examiner: Marines barred from traveling to Ukraine and nearby countries
Washington Examiner: Ukraine strikes fuel depot inside Russian territory: Local official
Washington Examiner: Russian forces attacking grain storage facilities in Ukraine, threatening world food supply: Report
Washington Examiner: Russian troops ceded control of Chernobyl to Ukraine, nuclear watchdog says
Washington Examiner: Biden’s verbal missteps add to the fog of war in Ukraine
Washington Examiner: Analysis: As Putin sours on Sergei Shoigu, hard-liner tsar Nikolai Patrushev is likely to rise
Washington Examiner: ‘Peacemaker’ China stands by Russia partnership
Washington Examiner: Afghanistan debacle played role in Putin’s Ukraine decision, general says
Washington Examiner: US and allies didn’t do enough to lessen civilian casualties in battle for Raqqa: Report
Washington Examiner: Republicans think Biden’s defense budget too small while liberals say it’s too big
Washington Examiner: With the defense budget, GOP lawmakers say Biden is blind to a stubborn foe: Inflation
AP: Russians leave Chernobyl; Ukraine braces for renewed attacks
Reuters: Russia Drafts 134,500 Conscripts But Says They Won’t Go To Ukraine
AP: War in Ukraine fuels fears among draft-age Russian youths
BBC: French intelligence chief Vidaud fired over Russian war failings
USNI News: EUCOM Commander Calls For Permanent Land, Air Presence On NATO’s Eastern Front
USNI News: SECDEF Austin Extends Truman Deployment As Conflict In Ukraine Continues
New York Times: Russia’s Battle Mistakes May Boil Down To Lack Of Central Commander
Washington Post: Cease-Fire Is Set For Ravaged Mariupol
New York Times: NATO Braces For ‘Even More Suffering’ As Russia Sends Mixed Signals
Air Force Magazine: USAF to Form New F-22 Training Unit; JATM Will Help Raptors Keep Their Edge
Air Force Magazine: KC-46 Cleared for More Refueling; Likelihood of Bridge Tanker Competition Falls
Air Force Magazine: Boeing-Led Team to Explore E-3 AWACS Replacement Options for NATO
Bloomberg: China Signs Deal With Cambodia Army, Rebuffing U.S. Warnings
Task & Purpose: ‘Be Bold, Be Brief, Be Gone’ — The Enduring Legacy Of The First Female Marine Officer Killed In The Iraq War
19fortyfive.com: Why Russia’s Feared T-90 Tank Keeps Getting Killed in Ukraine
19fortyfive.com: F/A-XX: The US Navy Has Big Plans for a New Stealth Fighter
19fortyfive.com: Is Russia’s Su-75 Checkmate Stealth Fighter Doomed?
19fortyfive.com: We Think We Know Why Russia Can’t Win the War in Ukraine
The Cipher Brief: How South Korea’s Election Could Impact U.S. National Security
CNN: U.S. Navy Will Name A Ship After Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Calendar
FRIDAY | APRIL 1
9 a.m. — Middle East Institute virtual discussion: “Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine and Implications for Black Sea Security,” with former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Philip Breedlove, chair at the Frontier Europe Initiative; Iulia Joja, director at the Frontier Europe Initiative; Mamuka Tsereteli, nonresident scholar at the Frontier Europe Initiative; and Gonul Tol, director of the MEI Turkey Program https://www.mei.edu/events/russias-invasion-ukraine
10 a.m. — American Security Project virtual discussion: “A View From Kyiv,” with former Ukrainian Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Minister Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the Kyiv School of Economics https://www.americansecurityproject.org/event
10 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Subcommittees on Intelligence and Special Operations hearing: “FY23 hearing to Review Department of Defense Strategy, Policy, and Programs for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction,” with testimony from John Plumb, assistant secretary for space policy; Deborah Rosenblum, assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs; Vice Adm. Collin Patrick Green, deputy commander, U.S. Special Operations Command; Rhys Williams, acting director, Defense Threat Reduction Agency and undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
10 a.m. — Center for a New American Security Defense Program virtual event: “Assessing the FY 2023 Defense Budget Request,” with Stacie Pettyjohn, senior fellow and director, defense program, Center for a New American Security; Frederico Bartels, senior policy analyst for defense budgeting, Heritage Foundation; Mackenzie Eaglen, senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute: Todd Harrison, director of the defense budget analysis and aerospace security project, Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Becca Wasser, fellow, defense program, Center for a New American Security https://www.cnas.org/events/cnas-special-event
10:30 a.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: “Protecting the global marine transportation system against cyber threats,” sith Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas; and Dutch Minister of Justice and Security Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/protecting-the-global-marine-transportation-system
1 p.m. Tampa Convention Center — U.S. Central Command “change of command” ceremony as Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie turns over command to Army Gen. Erik Kurilla. https://www.defense.gov/News/Live-Events
TUESDAY | APRIL 5
TBA NATO headquarters — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg briefs reporters ahead of Wednesday’s in-person meeting of NATO foreign ministers https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news
9:30 a.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee hearing: “Fiscal Year 2023 Defense Budget Request” with testimony from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin; and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
3 p.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems Hearing: “Operations in Cyberspace and Building Cyber Capabilities Across the Department of Defense,” with testimony from John Plumb, incoming principal cyber adviser to the secretary of defense; and Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander, U.S. Cyber Command and director, National Security Agency https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
12 p.m. — Association of the U.S. Army “Noon Report” webinar, with James Helis, director, Army Resilience Directorate. https://info.ausa.org/e/784783/USA-Noon-Report
WEDNESDAY | APRIL 6
TBA NATO headquarters — Day One of an in-person meeting of NATO foreign ministers chaired by the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news
2 p.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces Hearing: “Fiscal Year 2023 Strategic Forces National Security Space Programs,” with testimony from John Plumb, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy; Air Force Lt. Gen. Guetlein, commander, United States Space System Command; Tonya Wilkerson, deputy director, National Geospatial Agency; Christopher Scolese, director, National Reconnaissance Office; and Jon Ludwigson, director, Contracting and National Security Acquisitions, Government Accountability Office https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings
THURSDAY | APRIL 7
TBA NATO headquarters — Day Two of an in-person meeting of NATO foreign ministers, a special session including ministers from Australia, Finland, Georgia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Sweden, Ukraine, the European Union and the European Commission. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will brief reporters at the conclusion of the meeting https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”
President George W. Bush, in a speech in Nashville, Tennessee, on Sept. 17, 2002, where he confused the famous proverb that should be remembered every April 1.
