The Washington Post - USA (2022-06-09)

A14 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAY, JUNE 9 , 2022

war in ukraine

BY DAN LAMOTHE AND CATE CADELL

The U.S. military has devised a
plan to train a platoon of Ukraini-
an soldiers at a time on how to use
sophisticated multiple-launch
rocket artillery, the Pentagon’s top
general said Wednesday, raising
the likelihood that more of the
weapons could be sent to Ukraine.
The plan is contingent on an
initial group of Ukrainian soldiers
showing proficiency on it, said
Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chair-
man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The transfer of additional rocket
artillery to Ukraine from existing
U.S. Army or U.S. Marine Corps
stocks also would require explicit
approval from the Biden adminis-
tration.
“We’ve got to start this thing
with a program that is rational
and deliberate and gets them
trained to a standard where they
become effective,” Milley said,
speaking to reporters as he re-
turned to Washington from
France. “It will do no good to just
throw this weapon system into the
battle. You’ve got to be trained on
it to get the maximum effective
use out of the weapon as a preci-
sion system.”
The comments came after the
Biden administration last month
approved the transfer of four
M142 High Mobility Artillery

Rocket Systems, commonly known as HIMARS, to Ukraine, and after Britain said it would send three M270 multiple-launch rocket systems, which perform a similar function. The British also will train a platoon at a time under the plan, Milley said, allowing Ukrainian forces to build up their rocket artillery. Ukrainian officials have said for days that they need dozens of rocket artillery systems to beat back Russian forces, who continue to make slow gains in Ukraine’s

eastern Donbas region after a full- scale invasion launched Feb. 24. Milley said that the Russians have “demonstrated that they are outgunning and outranging Ukrainian artillery” so far in fight- ing in the eastern Donbas region, which has become the primary emphasis in Russian operations. The United States already has shipped Ukraine dozens of M howitzers, artillery that commonly launches explosive 155mm rounds up to about 25 miles. Mil- ley said Ukrainian forces have

used those weapons to great effect, but the Ukrainians need “some longer-range artillery systems” that can reach farther distances. Colin Kahl, the U.S. undersecre- tary of defense for policy, left open the possibility that the United States could send additional HI- MARS to Ukraine as he announced June 1 the first four systems had been approved. The United States first wants to get more information about how use- ful they are and how the Ukraini- ans are using them, he said. He predicted then that it would take about three weeks to train the first group of Ukrainian soldiers. Mil- ley said Wednesday that it will take three or four. The Biden administration approved the transfer of the first four systems after receiving assuranc- es from Ukraine that it would not use them to launch cross-border attacks on Russia, Kahl said. The administration also decided to send munitions for them that have a range of about 45 miles, rather than the long-range Advanced Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) that can reach up to 186 miles. Both the HIMARS and multi- launch system that the British are providing require a significant amount of training, Milley said. U.S. troops have developed an ac- celerated training program for Ukrainian soldiers who already

have fired other kinds of artillery in part because they are not start- ing from scratch. On Wednesday, Ukrainian forces remained locked in a brutal fight to maintain territory in the city of Severodonetsk, a key battle- ground in the Kremlin’s bid to capture the Donbas region, as Kyiv and Moscow continue to spar over a U.N.-backed proposal to avert worsening global food shortages by securing safe corridors for mil- lions of tons of Ukrainian grain. Luhansk regional governor Ser- hiy Haidai said Ukrainian troops were facing an onslaught of Rus- sian shelling that is targeting Ukrainian-held supply lines in Severodonetsk, the largest city in Ukraine’s Luhansk region, where Moscow claims it now controls 97 percent of the territory. Local officials have confirmed that Russian forces have captured most residential areas in the city as part of their advance, but Brit- ain’s Defense Ministry on Wednes- day reported that Ukrainian de- fenses “are holding” and said nei- ther side has gained much ground over the past day. Severodonetsk would be a significant symbolic win for Moscow, which claims it has recently re- stored rail and road links to the annexed Crimean peninsula via freshly captured Ukrainian cities, consolidating its gains in the

country’s south. Turkish and Russian foreign ministers met in Ankara on Wednesday for “substantial” talks on a U.N.-backed proposal for se- cure safe shipping lanes, designed to facilitate exports of some 20 million tons of grain trapped by a Russian blockade of the Black Sea ports. The blockade has raised alarms over a potential global food short- age that could lead to famine in developing countries if shipments aren’t able to leave the ports, some of which have been littered with defensive Ukrainian mines and are under fire from Russian land and sea units. Turkish Foreign Minister Mev- lut Cavusoglu said following the meeting that the proposal — which reportedly includes a plan for Turkey to assist in demining the Ukrainian ports and escorting commercial vessels — was “rea- sonable.” He also said it’s “entirely legitimate” for Russia to request relief from sanctions on its own exports as part of any deal. No immediate agreements have come of the talks.

Kareem Fahim and Zeynep Karatas in Istanbul, Amy Cheng and Andrew Jeong in Seoul, Adela Suliman in London, Lateshia Beachum in Washington and Mary Ilyushina in Riga contributed to this report.

Top U.S. general details plan to train Ukrainian soldiers on rocket artillery

ARIS MESSINIS/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES An elderly woman sits inside her damaged house after a missile strike in the eastern Ukrainian city of Soledar on Saturday.

in 2008 to Ukraine joining NATO, characterizing the position of Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, then the president of France, as a “concession” that helped lead to the horrors of this year’s invasion. Merkel’s successor, Olaf Scholz, has partly reversed course since the Feb. 24 invasion. He announced a major increase in defense spending and has moved to send heavy weapons to Ukraine. But Berlin has still been criticized for its energy policy toward Moscow, upon which it is reliant for natural gas. On Wednesday, Zelensky ad- viser Mykhailo Podolyak pushed back against Merkel’s remarks. In a tweet, he questioned her decision to proceed with the now-

abandoned Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline that drew Berlin closer to Moscow, even as she claimed she was aware of Putin’s antipathy toward the West. Merkel said that NATO mem- bership would have damaged Ukraine and that Putin would have seen it as akin to a “declara- tion of war,” according to Deutsche Welle. Other observers have argued that the transatlan- tic alliance’s collective defense obligation would have deterred Putin from attacking a member state. She also noted that Kyiv suf- fered from serious internal divi- sions and systemic corruption at that time, which would have made NATO accession challeng- ing.

While Merkel admitted that the West could have imposed harsher sanctions after Putin annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, she also noted measures such as the sus- pension of Russia from the Group of Eight nations, an assembly of major economic powers. Merkel was one of only a hand- ful of female world leaders with whom Putin has dealt closely since he came to power more than two decades ago. Former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who unsuccess- fully tried to reset U.S.-Russian relations, told a literary festival last week that the Kremlin leader was “adversarial” in their interac- tions and “does not like critics, especially women critics.”

BY AMY CHENG

Angela Merkel, in her first
extensive interview since retiring
last year after a decade and a half
as German chancellor, said she
won’t apologize for her failed
efforts to diplomatically resolve
tensions between Russia and
Ukraine.
Speaking this week in an on-
stage interview in Berlin, Merkel
condemned Russian President
Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion
of Ukraine. She said nothing

justifies the war, which flies “in the face of human rights,” according to German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle. But Merkel defended her decision in 2008 to oppose letting Ukraine and Georgia join NATO. She also said she did not regret brokering a 2015 peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow that ultimately failed to end a conflict in eastern Ukraine with Russian- backed separatists. “I tried to work toward calam- ity being averted, and diplomacy

was not wrong if it doesn’t succeed,” Merkel said, according to the Associated Press. “... It is a matter of great sorrow that it didn’t succeed, but I don’t blame myself now for trying.” The conservative leader’s foreign policy, which controversially included deepening economic relations with Moscow, has come under increased scrutiny since Putin started the war. In April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called out French and German opposition

Merkel defends her failed e≠orts at

diplomacy with Ukraine and Russia

Friday, June 10 at 9:00 a.m.

Washington Post Live’s “First Look” offers a smart, inside take on the day’s politics.

Jonathan Capehart will host a reporter debrief followed by a roundtable discussion with

Washington Post columnists.

To register to watch, visit wapo.st/firstlookjune10 or scan code using a smartphone camera:

@POSTLIVE #POSTLIVE Listen wherever podcasts are available.

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL Co-Author, The Early 202 & Anchor, Washington Post Live

RUTH MARCUS Deputy Editorial Page Editor

GEORGE F. WILL Opinions Columnist

The Washington Post - USA (2022-06-09)

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