Cheng Mo: Britain announced the largest military aid to Ukraine in history, and the details of the tactical missiles for US aid to Ukraine have been finalized
Original Cheng Mo Visionary 2024-04-23 14:20
Morning Mist / Repost
Executive summary: 1. The United Kingdom has provided the largest military aid in history to Ukraine, 2. Biden promised to resume military aid to Ukraine as soon as possible, 3. The United States and Ukraine finalized the details of the transfer of army tactical missiles, 4. Trump opposes the TikTok "sell or ban" bill, 5. Republican hardliners threaten to remove Johnson from office, and 6. A Moscow court sentenced an anti-war activist to five years in prison.
At noon today (April 23), Beijing time, the official website of the British government announced that a total of more than 500 million pounds (about 617 million US dollars) of additional funds will be provided to Ukraine, which will be used to quickly provide Ukraine with urgently needed armored vehicles, ammunition, air defense systems and missiles, drones and engineering support. This is the largest amount of military aid the UK has provided to Ukraine to date.
The package of military assistance to Ukraine includes 60 small assault boats, diving boats, and naval guns, more than 1,600 anti-aircraft missiles, and long-range Storm Shadow missiles, more than 400 combat vehicles, including 160 Husky armored vehicles, 162 other armored vehicles, and 78 all-terrain vehicles, and 4 million rounds of ammunition.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that "the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to fight bravely, but they need our support – they need it now." Today's package will help ensure that Ukraine has everything it needs to fight Russia. ”
Around the same time, British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said that "this record-breaking military aid package will provide President Zelenskyy and his brave country with the means necessary to expel Putin's forces and restore peace and stability in Europe." ”
He also said that "Britain was the first country to supply Ukraine with NLAW man-made anti-tank missiles, the first to supply modern tanks, the first to supply long-range missiles." Now we go further. We will never let the world forget the ongoing battle for the survival of Ukraine, and with our continued support, they will surely emerge victorious. ”
The United Kingdom is the most powerful country in aiding Ukraine, and it is also the country that has taken the lead in breaking through Russia's red line in the Western camp's careful military aid to Ukraine. Since the Russia-Ukraine war, mainstream British public opinion and successive British prime ministers have given Ukrainians the greatest spiritual encouragement and military support.
(Britain announces the largest military aid to Ukraine in history)
On April 22, local time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a phone call with US President Joe Biden. Biden said in a telephone conversation that if the aid bill is approved by the US Senate, he will sign it immediately and send urgently needed anti-aircraft missiles and artillery shells to Ukraine as soon as possible.
The two sides also discussed the first batch of U.S. military aid plans after the passage of the aid to Ukraine bill, and Biden said that the military aid will be carried out soon, and Ukraine's air defense and artillery capabilities will be strengthened. In the call, Zelenskyy thanked Biden for securing $61 billion in military aid for him, and the two also discussed the latest airstrikes, including the bombing of the TV tower in Kharkiv. Just minutes before the two spoke on the phone, the Russian army fired missiles that knocked down a 240-meter-high TV tower in the city of Kharkiv.
Many people fear that the Russian army will launch a large-scale attack on Kharkiv and then seize the second largest city and economic center of Ukraine, but I think the possibility is zero, because the Russian army no longer has such military strength.
On April 22, local time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his regular video address in the evening that all relevant details of the agreement on providing Ukraine with US Army tactical missiles (ATACMS) have been reached.
The United States has previously provided Ukraine with a small number of army tactical missiles, and the bill approved by the House of Representatives specifically authorizes the president to transfer long-range tactical missiles to Ukraine. The core clause of the U.S.-Ukraine agreement is that the Ukrainian army must not use such missiles to attack targets on the Russian mainland. The U.S. Government has the right to supervise the use of tactical missiles.
Earlier, Mark Warner, chairman of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, revealed on April 21 local time that the United States may resume military support for Ukraine by the end of this week, including the provision of missiles for use in long-range army tactical missile systems.
The U.S. Army tactical missile has a maximum range of 300 kilometers and is launched using the Seahorse or M270 rocket launch system. Lockheed Martin produced about 4,000 ATACMS missiles, of which more than 600 were used by the U.S. military and hundreds were transferred to other countries, and the U.S. military has less than 3,000 in stock. In terms of missiles, this is a very large amount. Ukraine has received tactical missiles from the US Army, and all Russian targets on the territory of Ukraine, including the Crimean peninsula, are within its strike range.
The warheads of ATACMS missiles are all cluster bombs, which are particularly suitable for striking troop and equipment concentration areas and transportation hubs, and are not suitable for striking large bridges, buildings, and other solid targets. For example, it is possible to destroy the deck of the Crimean bridge with this missile, but not its piers.
(U.S. Army Tactical Missile)
I don't know if Trump is motivated by election considerations or if his China policy has changed course, but he has recently reversed course and made several public statements opposing the US Congress's bill on TikTok's "ban or sell it".
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill demanding TikTok's divestment from China's parent company, ByteDance, by a landslide of 360 to 58, over the weekend. Trump said on April 22 that he was adamantly opposed to denying young people the right to use TikTok. Mr. Biden, he said, was "the one pushing for TikTok to shut down, and doing so to help his Facebook friends become richer and more dominant in the market." He also called on young people to use their votes to spurn Biden in the November election.
When Trump was president in 2020, he claimed that he tried to ban TikTok and the Chinese social media platform WeChat by presidential order due to national security concerns, and the court ruled that Trump's ban had no legal basis after two Chinese companies filed a lawsuit in accordance with the law. However, after Congress passed the legislation this time, in order to overturn a law that has taken effect in Congress, it is necessary to appeal to the US Supreme Court, and it is very difficult to overturn it.
Judging from the results of the House vote, Trump's opposition to TikTok's "ban or sell" bill did not receive support from a majority of Republican lawmakers. The package of foreign aid bills, including this bill, will be passed by the US Senate in the early hours of tomorrow morning Beijing time at the earliest.
On April 23, TikTok management informed employees in an internal memorandum that if the TikTok bill is signed into law, the company's shareholders will not sell their shares and will respond through legal means.
Meanwhile, Rep. Green, a Republican of the United States, a die-hard Trump supporter, has vowed to remove Speaker Johnson, who will vote on the aid to Ukraine bill. She angrily told the media on several occasions that Johnson was "a traitor not only to the Republican Party, but also to the country" by giving American taxpayers' money to Ukrainians. ”
On April 21, Green said in an interview with Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" program: "Mike Johnson's era has come to an end, and in order to ensure a smooth transition, he should make the wise choice to resign voluntarily." Otherwise, he will face the fate of being deposed. ”
Johnson said the U.S. must play a leadership role in defending freedom, democratic values and deliver on its commitments to its allies. He also said that at a critical historical moment, he made the right decision and would not care about personal gains and losses. With the November election approaching, Republican hardliners are unlikely to win the support of a majority of Republican House members in launching a campaign to oust Johnson. Therefore, Johnson's removal is unlikely.
(Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Johnson)
The Moscow City Court sentenced 39-year-old Yuri Kokhovitz to five years in forced prison on April 22 local time for opposing the Russian army's special military operation in Ukraine and criticizing the Russian army for killing civilians in Bucha, a suburb of Ukraine's capital Kyiv, for "no reason".
A reporter from Radio Free Europe, funded by the U.S. government, interviewed Kohowitz on the streets in July 2022 and asked him if he thought there was a need for a détente between Russia and NATO countries. Kohowitz responded: "Of course it does, but it all depends on the government...... It is Russia that creates all the problems. I don't think there is anything wrong with NATO, it does not intend to attack anyone. He also accused the Russian army of committing unforgivable war crimes by causing the Bucha tragedy.
Kokhowitz was detained by authorities in March last year on suspicion of "hooliganism". Kohowitz admitted in court that his remarks were inconsistent with Russian wartime law, but disagreed that his views were motivated by "political hatred."
Since the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war, excluding anti-war activists briefly detained by the police, nearly 100 people in Russia have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 1 to 10 years for anti-war speech, and thousands more have been sentenced to fines and short-term sentences ranging from one week to one year. In the West, any anti-war rhetoric is legal and protected by law, but to be honest, Russia is much more lenient with these anti-government activists than North Korea.
In the past 24 hours, there have been 80 company-platoon-level clashes between Russia and Ukraine on the line of contact, with the main battles taking place in the following four directions: in the Lyman region, west of Bakhmut, west of Avdiivka, and around Novopavlivka. The Ukrainian army repelled all the "human charges" of the Russian army.
On the 790th day of the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the Ukrainian General Staff announced that the battle losses of the Russian army (including Russian local, enterprise, and separatist groups) in the past 24 hours were as follows: 800 Russian troops were annihilated (killed and seriously wounded), and a total of 461,100 Russian troops were annihilated; Destroyed 5 tanks, 12 armored vehicles, 1 air defense system, 33 fuel tankers and logistics heavy-duty vehicles, 2 sets of special equipment (mainly electronic warfare equipment), 29 artillery pieces, and intercepted 23 suicide drones.
(The battle losses of the Russian army counted by the Ukrainian side on April 23)
Based on various information, I roughly estimate that the losses of Ukrainian officers and soldiers are about 95,000, of which the number of dead and seriously injured is also 1:1, and more than 20,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed. The warriors of Ukraine who died defending their homeland will return to heaven with glory and be with God.
Let us continue to pray that God will give peace and put an end to wars, that the wicked may be rewarded and the good be sheltered.
Information source: 2024-04-23 WeChat official account Vision
ID:yjzd-303
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