NYT WORLD: Russian Invasion of Ukraine Revolutionizes NATO Military Strategy
By Steven Erlanger
Section: World
Source: New York Times
Published Date: April 17, 2023 at 03:00AM
The shift is transformative for an alliance characterized for decades by hibernation and self-doubt. After the recent embrace of long-neutral Finland by the alliance, it also amounts to another significant unintended consequence for Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, of his war.
NATO is rapidly moving from what the military calls deterrence by retaliation to deterrence by denial. In the past, the theory was that if the Russians invaded, member states would try to hold on until allied forces, mainly American and based at home, could come to their aid and retaliate against the Russians to try to push them back.
But after the Russian atrocities in areas it occupied in Ukraine, from Bucha and Irpin to Mariupol and Kherson, frontier states like Poland and the Baltic countries no longer want to risk any period of Russian occupation. They note that in the first days of the Ukrainian invasion, Russian troops took land larger than some Baltic nations.
Recently leaked top-secret documents from the United States suggest that Ukraine is struggling with supplies, and could run out of air defensive missiles within weeks.
Air marshal Edward Stringer, former director-general of Joint Force Development Strategic Command, says that Ukrainian forces need to demonstrate that they can seize the initiative in any coming spring counteroffensive against Russia.
Western Europe has not "stepped up" when it comes to increasing munitions production and has not built enough of a "defense industrial base" to counter Russian aggression in the long term, he added.
By Steven Erlanger
Section: World
Source: New York Times
Published Date: April 17, 2023 at 03:00AM
Shocked by Russian atrocities, NATO is becoming the war-fighting alliance it was during the Cold War, committed to defending “every inch” of its territory from Day 1.
BRUSSELS — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the costliest conflict in Europe since World War II, has propelled the North Atlantic Treaty Organization into a full-throttled effort to make itself again into the capable, war-fighting alliance it had been during the Cold War.The shift is transformative for an alliance characterized for decades by hibernation and self-doubt. After the recent embrace of long-neutral Finland by the alliance, it also amounts to another significant unintended consequence for Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, of his war.
NATO is rapidly moving from what the military calls deterrence by retaliation to deterrence by denial. In the past, the theory was that if the Russians invaded, member states would try to hold on until allied forces, mainly American and based at home, could come to their aid and retaliate against the Russians to try to push them back.
But after the Russian atrocities in areas it occupied in Ukraine, from Bucha and Irpin to Mariupol and Kherson, frontier states like Poland and the Baltic countries no longer want to risk any period of Russian occupation. They note that in the first days of the Ukrainian invasion, Russian troops took land larger than some Baltic nations.
Read More at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/17/world/europe/nato-russia-ukraine-war.html
Ukraine War: Western Europe is yet to 'step up' with sufficient weapons suppliesRecently leaked top-secret documents from the United States suggest that Ukraine is struggling with supplies, and could run out of air defensive missiles within weeks.
Air marshal Edward Stringer, former director-general of Joint Force Development Strategic Command, says that Ukrainian forces need to demonstrate that they can seize the initiative in any coming spring counteroffensive against Russia.
Western Europe has not "stepped up" when it comes to increasing munitions production and has not built enough of a "defense industrial base" to counter Russian aggression in the long term, he added.
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