The United States has begun to provide offensive weapons to Ukraine, which may be a turning point in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, not necessarily because Ukraine becomes stronger, but because Russia may attack more fiercely.
According to U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee member Mike McCall, the United States will quickly provide $800 million in military aid to Ukraine. The weapons include 100 switchblade suicide drones with 100 grenade launchers, 800 Stinger air defense systems, 2,000 Javelin anti-tank missiles, 1,000 light armored weapons and 6,000 AT-4 anti-armor systems. In addition, the United States, together with NATO allies, has provided Ukraine with a considerable number of S-300 air defense missile systems, and there is currently news that S-300s from NATO countries have entered Ukraine. Among these weapons, the Spring Blade Suicide Drone and the S-300 are obviously more eye-catching.
First of all, the spring knife suicide drone is an offensive weapon, if anti-tank missiles and man-portable air defense missiles are defensive weapons, then the spring knife suicide drone obviously does not belong to this category.
The switchblade suicide drone is fired from a grenade launcher, like a mortar shell. The launcher can use GPS to guide the drone in its search for a target. The use of the switchblade drone is very extensive, one model can target enemy soldiers, and the other model can attack tanks and armored vehicles.
Ukrainian President Zelenskiy has previously asked the United States to provide armed drones, but the United States has chosen to assist the switchblade drones considering Russia's response and cost. After all, a Hellfire missile on the Grim Reaper drone is expensive for a SpringBlade drone, a new Hellfire missile costs $117,000, and a Switchblade drone costs $6,000.
The switchblade drone can destroy targets up to 80km away, and the drone has a certain evasive ability. When the drone is launched, it can avoid enemy fire through cameras and guidance systems. The air-staying capacity reaches 40 minutes, and the switchblade will not start a suicide attack until the fire control mechanism determines a target that is favorable for the strike.
However, the spring knife is also divided into different models, the spring knife 300 air retention capacity is only 15 minutes, we said earlier a category is to combat armed personnel, this version is. The spring knife 600 can be idle for 40 minutes, and at present, Ukraine should have both versions. Once the target is spotted, the spring knife drone 600 can descend at a speed of 185 km per hour to penetrate the tank's armor.
As for the United States to supply S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine, some people may be surprised, is the S-300 not a Russian product? Non also. The S-300 missile existed in the Soviet era, so many Soviet countries installed this type of missile, or pro-Soviet countries also purchased it. The S-300 air defense missiles that the United States aided to Ukraine this time are likely to come from NATO member Slovakia and then transfer them to Ukraine by the United States, and Bulgaria and Greece also have S-300 air defense missile systems, which are all NATO members.
However, it is certain that even if the S-300 anti-aircraft missile is deployed to Ukraine again, it will be nothing more than a long-range attack weapon of Russia at the point of consumption. The previous destruction of the S-300 anti-aircraft missiles in Ukraine has shown that Russia has the means and capabilities to eliminate the threat posed by the S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. This move of the United States is nothing more than to unite NATO countries, and secondly, these countries are also facing an upgrade in the prevention and control system, and it is likely that the S-300 will be exchanged for the new air defense system of the United States. Of course, it is not excluded that it is free aid to Ukraine.
After receiving $800 million in weapons assistance, will Ukraine really have a significant increase in combat effectiveness?
It is true that this is the case, after all, such a huge scale of weapons and equipment is enough for Ukraine to use for a few days. And Russia now lacks more means of intelligence gathering, and the location of the weapons received by Ukraine may not be the first time to obtain them, and these weapons, once distributed, are obviously a real threat to the Russian military.
First, the Ukrainian army can use drones to reconnoiter or even annihilate the dynamics of the Russian army, which is very beneficial for street battles, and in the Kiev region, the distance between the Russian army and the Ukrainian army is not far, if there are these drones, the Russian army will obviously enter the strike range.
Second, although stingers and javelin missiles cannot determine the direction of the battlefield, there are many examples of ambushed Ukrainian troops shooting down Russian helicopters and even fighter jets, and Javelin missiles hitting tanks, and a large number of man-portable missiles entering Ukraine are like finding needles in a haystack for Russia, and it is difficult to determine where these weapons went.
Third, the re-deployment of the S-300 to Ukraine will inevitably consume the Russian military's long-range precision strike weapons, and will make the Russian third-generation aircraft dare not easily fly low-altitude bombing targets, so that it is easy to be detected or even shot down by the radar of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile. As the United States said, U.S. military assistance to Ukraine will increase the cost of Russia's attack on Ukraine, so it seems that this is indeed the case.
So, will Russia really be weak?
We have said before that Russia's attack on Ukraine is to collect the fight, but many people question that from the latest statement of the British Ministry of Defense, it can be seen that Russia is indeed holding the fight. Britain's Defence Ministry said Russia "may use less precise weapons" in the face of more difficult Ukrainian troops, meaning Russia may have spent more weapons to shoot at the outer air of the defensive zone than originally planned.
First, Russia has a large stockpile of weapons and ammunition, but weapons outside the defensive zone are not suitable for siege. After entering Kharkiv, Mariupol and Kiev, short-range operations do not use weapons outside the defensive zone at all, at most they send fighters to carry out precision bombing, but fighters and helicopters are facing the threat of anti-aircraft missiles that are ambushed on the ground, so the Russian army is now taking into account the collateral damage, and the fight is also afraid. Just imagine, if you don't consider civilian casualties in Kiev, Russia will directly send strategic bombers to carpet bomb, or directly use TOS-1 self-propelled rocket launchers, and how much living space the Ukrainian army hidden in the building will have.
Second, the purpose of Russia's military operation is to force the talks with war, and does not want to cause much damage to the war, otherwise Zelensky's command headquarters cannot exist at all, Russia has no other ability, it is not difficult to find the headquarters of the Kiev authorities, if Russia wants to do this, Zelenskiy may have been in exile abroad, but Zelensky is in exile, who is Russia talking to? Obviously, Russia's preferred option is not to occupy Ukraine, but to make Ukraine neutral and agree to Russia's terms. For now, however, Russia's conditions are "a bit excessive" for Ukraine, such as the recognition of Crimea's ownership of Russia and the independence of Donbass.
Third, in view of the continuous military assistance of the West to Ukraine, Russia is forced to accelerate the attack on Ukraine and will maintain the goal of de-militarization, russia is bound to put military pressure on NATO, otherwise there is not much difference between NATO's military assistance and participation in the war.
On the occasion of the 22-day conflict between Russia and Ukraine, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Japan on Wednesday night, which has injured more than 90 people and killed four people. The earthquake struck northeastern Japan in the same area that triggered the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster as the earthquake cut off the power supply to 2 million homes. Although there were fire alarms in the turbine rooms inside the Fukushima nuclear power plant, there have been no reports of damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plant, and it is said that the monitoring values of radioactive material at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have not changed.