Bucking the Biden administration, Poland has announced that it will supply Ukraine with anti-air missiles — probably either Poland’s newer Piorun or older Grom systems.
This is further evidence of concerns from Eastern Europe that President Joe Biden is weak in handling Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Baltic states are also publicly providing anti-air systems to Ukraine — albeit only after the Biden administration was embarrassed into approving their request to do so. But the United States has yet to take similar action. The White House is deliberating whether to have the Pentagon supply U.S. Stinger man-portable systems to Ukraine, although it is possible that the CIA has already done so.
Defending its cautious approach, the Biden administration pretends that it is only being prudent. It doesn’t want any weapons falling into the black market. Yet man-portable anti-air systems are already abundant on the black market, possessed by jihadi groups everywhere from Syria to Libya. Prospective terrorist attacks against international airliners have been prevented not by terrorists being unable to access these weapons in the first place, but rather by intelligence services’ interdiction of them.
The U.S. could flood Ukraine with Stinger missiles at affordable risk.
Again, however, the Biden administration prefers to confuse the question rather than admit its hesitation. Asked about arms supplies to Ukraine last week, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby responded, “I think you can understand why we would want to be careful about advertising publicly the kinds of capabilities that were given to Ukraine, given the size and the scale and the capabilities that are arrayed against them on the other side of the border.”
This is nonsensical.
The only credible military deterrence against the Russian strike jets and attack helicopters now sitting on Ukraine’s northern, southern, and eastern borders is Ukraine’s means of shooting down those aircraft. If Russian commanders know that every front-line Ukrainian ground unit has access to man-portable air defense systems, they will suffer reduced freedom of planning and action. Given the impracticality of a U.S.-enforced “no-fly” zone over Ukraine, these weapons are key to bolstering Ukraine’s deterrent-defense potential.
There’s a broader strategic point at stake. At a political level, the U.S.’s hesitation to do more for Ukraine’s defense translates as a sign of weakness. This fuels French, German, and Italian resistance of more extensive sanctions against Russia and moves by pro-Kremlin elements in Hungary to support Putin.
It says a lot about Biden that far smaller and militarily weaker nations are more courageous against Putin than he is. Meanwhile for Ukraine, the Polish-Baltic help is surely welcomed.
