Text/Feiyun
The footsteps of "General Winter" are getting closer and closer, not only the Ukrainian army is a little uneasy, but the United States and the West are also more and more unable to sit still.
According to global network news, on the 22nd local time, Canada announced that in order to ensure the smooth winter march of the Ukrainian army, Canada is ready to provide a batch of additional military assistance worth about 25.5 million US dollars to the Ukrainian side. In addition to regularly providing satellite imaging and additional high-resolution surveillance systems to the Ukrainian army, there is also a batch of Canadian industrial winter equipment.
(Canadian military personnel stand with the Ukrainian army)
The equipment, which includes boots, gloves and parkas and other things, is expected to be delivered by the end of November, and the parkas are from Canada Goose, a well-known Canadian down jacket brand, which can not only withstand the cold, but also protect against wind and water.
Why provide these things to the Ukrainian side? Obviously, it is to help the Ukrainian army better withstand the cold weather in the coming period. Not long ago, the Ukrainian side also announced that it wanted to recapture Crimea, not only rejected the proposal for a short-term truce with the Russian army, but also issued a warning to its NATO allies, suggesting that the other side continued to increase its efforts to aid Ukraine and not give the Russian army a "respite".
(Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky inspects the front)
However, some US and Western media have sneered at the "ambition" of the Ukrainian side, believing that this conflict, which has lasted for 9 months, has long exhausted the NATO countries behind Ukraine, and the stocks of weapons aided by many countries to Ukraine have bottomed out. What is more cruel is that after the Ukrainian side has achieved a series of advantages on the battlefield, it has become the end of the strong crossbow, and it is difficult to exert its previous powerful offensive, especially in winter, whether the Ukrainian army, which has been ravaged by the energy crisis, can maintain its existing advantages on the battlefield is even more difficult to predict.
However, although the confidence in the Ukrainian army is not so sufficient, in order to further pressure Russia, the United States and the West still have not given up aid to Ukraine. U.S. Defense Secretary Austin publicly said a few days ago that although the direction of development of the situation in Russia and Ukraine is unknown, as long as the Ukrainian side needs it, the United States will continue to support it, and with the help of the United States, the winter combat situation of the Ukrainian army is better than that of the Russian army. On the 22nd, the EU also provided Ukraine with $2.5 billion in economic support.
(U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin)
In the face of the "winter general", in order to let the Ukrainian army "hold on", the United States and the West can be said to have gritted their teeth and "laid down the blood". It stands to reason that the winter in Ukraine is almost as cold as the winter in Russia, and the situation of the Ukrainian army fighting on home is slightly better than that of the Russian army that went to other countries.
But now due to the continuous attack of Russian missiles on infrastructure in Ukraine, bombing of logistics supply routes of the Ukrainian army, resulting in a serious energy crisis in Ukraine, at night, at least one-third of the residents in Ukraine are in a state of no electricity available, the flight of the people is only one of them, placed in the Ukrainian army, the impact of the energy crisis cannot be underestimated.
(Kiev facilities bombed by Russian troops)
The lack of water and electricity will directly lead to the collapse of the Ukrainian military medical system, many instruments cannot be used, the factories used to manufacture Ukrainian military materials and weapons and ammunition will also be stopped, and even the operation of the transportation system will face great difficulties due to the lack of electricity.
The funds provided by the United States and the West can be used to repair the bombed energy facilities, but this will not make the Ukrainian side immediately overcome the difficulties, and in terms of weapons supply and logistics supplies, the Ukrainian army will rely more on the assistance of allies.
In contrast, the situation of the Russian army in terms of materials is quite difficult, and it is reported that the problem of insufficient equipment of individual soldiers has been exposed many times in Russia in recent days, and some Russian troops can only receive a thin military uniform. And the cotton coats, cotton gloves, cotton boots, etc. used in winter combat have not yet been found, and even soldiers need to buy them themselves.
The winter combat equipment and military materials provided by the United States and the West to the Ukrainian army are indeed much more advanced and comfortable than the Russian army, and the Russian army can only be hungry. There is no doubt that the Ukrainian army will indeed be less affected by the cold in the face of the enemy, coupled with the bonus of American weapons, from this point of view, Austin said that the Ukrainian army's winter combat situation is better than that of the Russian army, which is not unreasonable.
(The Ukrainian army uses American-style "Javelin" missiles)
However, the Ukrainian army must face not only the problem of heating, but also a series of complex factors.
On the one hand, after the withdrawal of the Russian army from parts of Kherson, it gradually grasped the geographical advantage, and Kherson no longer needed a large number of manpower as before, so a large number of troops with rich combat experience were scattered to other areas, and the convergence of recruits and veterans made Russia form a strong offensive force, creating a lot of trouble for the advancement of the Ukrainian army on the front line.
On the other hand, the flight of people in Ukraine has made it difficult to replenish Ukrainian soldiers. In addition to this, there were foreign mercenaries, mostly from Western Europe who were not used to fighting in the bitter cold. Once the "Winter Generals" go into battle, they will most likely be the first to collapse. And the Ukrainian army is now very dependent on mercenaries, and the Zaporozhye pro-Russian regime has said that almost all of the recent battles with the Russian army in Zaporozhye are foreign soldiers, and all the words spoken are foreign languages.
(Ukrainian troops rushing to the battlefield)
Therefore, I think that the impact of cold winter on the war situation cannot be ignored, and this is by no means a problem that can be solved by a few winter coats and a few pairs of boots. If the Russian army's bombing of energy facilities in Ukraine is equivalent to "drawing wages from the bottom of the cauldron", then Ukraine's blind reliance on US and Western assistance is more like "exhaustion and fishing", and there is a risk of interruption at any time.
This winter, for both Russia and Ukraine, I am afraid it will be sad.