#时事热点头条说#
As U.S. Secretary of Defense, Austin is an important figure who has attracted the attention of the international community. Not long ago, Austin was revealed to have prostate cancer and was treated in the hospital's intensive care unit for many days, and US President Biden did not even learn the news of Austin's hospitalization in the first place.
A large number of Americans believe that Austin is no longer fit to continue as US Secretary of Defense. In order to prove his ability to work, Austin had to "remotely command" the US army to launch air strikes against the Houthis, even while lying in a hospital bed.
Austin
Now, Austin is finally out of the hospital. Compared to before he was admitted to the hospital, Austin's face has become thinner. In his first video conference, Austin did not take the time to tell what happened to him, and the first thing he did was to call on Western countries to step up aid to Ukraine.
According to a reference news report on January 24, Austin stressed to Western countries that in the context of the inability of the United States to provide a new round of military assistance to Ukraine, other Western countries must not waver on the issue of aid to Ukraine. If the Western world chooses to retreat, it will not be able to stop the Russian aggression and more bloodshed and chaos will erupt.
In view of the current situation on the battlefield, Austin called on Western countries to provide Ukraine with more air defense systems and interceptor missiles as soon as possible. You know, after entering 2024, Russia will launch a large-scale airstrike on Ukraine every few days.
Unlike in the past, Russia has found an effective way to deal with Western air defense weapons, that is, to simultaneously dispatch hypersonic missiles, gliding bombs, cruise missiles, drones and other weapons to break through Ukraine's "air defense" to the greatest extent.
The Ukrainian government admits that the interception rate of Russian missiles and drones by the Ukrainian air defense forces has decreased significantly. On January 23, local time, Russia took advantage of the night to launch 41 missiles at Ukraine, attacking many targets in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, and Kharkiv Oblast, the capital of Ukraine.
Ukrainian air defense forces detected the take-off of several Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers. Under the blows of the Russian army, air defense sirens sounded over Ukraine. Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klichko said that violent explosions were heard in the city of Kyiv, and he asked people not to leave their shelters until the end of Russian air strikes.
It can be seen from this that the question raised by US Secretary of Defense Austin is quite critical, and Ukraine is indeed in urgent need of more air defense weapons. To Austin's surprise, instead of expressing gratitude for his efforts, the Ukrainian government blamed the West for poor assistance.
According to a reference report on January 24, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba complained to Western countries, saying that it was precisely because Western countries had sharply cut aid to Ukraine that the Ukrainian army fell into passivity. Kuleba said that the weapons production capacity of Western countries is seriously insufficient, and the weapons produced not only cannot meet the needs of Ukraine, but also do not meet the needs of the West itself.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba
In addition to anti-aircraft weapons, Kuleba specifically noted that the lack of a sufficient number of artillery shells is an important reason why the Ukrainian army is unable to seize the initiative in the war. Judging from the actual situation, Kuleba's statement has some truth, because the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has turned into a war of attrition and a tug-of-war.
In order to minimize their own casualties, both Russia and Ukraine will use artillery to "open the way" before launching an attack, clear possible threats, and destroy military fortifications built by the enemy. On the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, the biggest threat to soldiers and tanks on both sides is often the inconspicuous mine array.
Once any unit is trapped in the mine belt, the enemy forces can immediately annihilate this incapacitated force with long-range weapons such as artillery, and such small battles have been staged at least hundreds of times on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, and both Russia and Ukraine have paid a huge price for this.
In Kuleba's view, Western countries should provide Ukraine with more alternatives to artillery shells, and he urged Germany to hand over the Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine as soon as possible. From here, we can see that Austin's efforts have not been rewarded with Ukraine's gratitude. As soon as the supply of weapons is stopped, Ukraine will complain to Western countries.