Washington.-A Kh-101 cruise missile launched by Russia hit the Okhmatdyt pediatric hospital in kyiv, committing a war crime for which the death toll and the number of wounded are still not definitive.
This humanitarian tragedy has shaken up the agenda planned by the United States for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit that begins today in Washington, accelerating the definition of a global roadmap aimed at multiplying Ukraine’s military capacity and containing China’s geopolitical offensive.
The unexpected upheaval in Joe Biden’s political agenda was caused by two events that preceded the missile crash: it was an attack that appears deliberate and was carried out on Russian territory, where Ukraine is prohibited from attacking with weapons supplied by the United States and Europe.
Volodymyr Zelensky has a report that would prove the two events prior to the destruction of the children’s hospital, and the CIA and the Pentagon are conducting their own investigation to confirm the classified information of the Ukrainian president, according to what was explained to Infobae by a spokesperson for the Biden administration.
Zelensky’s strong suspicions, which the White House will try to confirm during the NATO summit, confirmed the situation at a global level.
With the explicit support of China, North Korea and Iran, Vladimir Putin feels empowered and so he launched a missile that served as a reckless message to NATO, one day before the start of the summit.
In DC they do not believe that the massacre at the Okhmatdyt hospital in kyiv was a coincidence.
The serious incident has an additional complication. During his various meetings in Washington, Zelensky will insist on using the weapons provided by the United States and Europe on Russian territory, a possibility that is rejected by Washington and Brussels to prevent the conflict from escalating to dystopian levels.
In this scenario, there will be no good news for Zelensky. Biden will not lift the veto agreed with his European partners, nor will he validate Ukraine’s entry into NATO in 2024. Both decisions aim to prevent the Caucasus war from becoming a global event.
The Kh-101 cruise missile not only exposed Putin’s intentions, but also revealed the fragility of Ukraine’s air defences. On 19 April, Zelensky had asked NATO for seven air defence systems to counter Russia’s bombing of civilian and military targets.
On that occasion, via video conference, the President of Ukraine warned: “We say it directly: to defend ourselves we need seven more Patriot or similar air defense systems, and this is a minimum number. They can save many lives and really change the situation,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian leader’s warning was heeded by all 32 NATO members, but there was no time to deliver the seven Patriots claimed by Zelensky in mid-April.
“It is clear that allies must step up and provide Ukraine with additional air defense systems to prevent the kinds of tragedies we have seen,” Biden special assistant Michael Carpenter said yesterday, as images of the tragedy might be seen on all media outlets around the world.
He concluded: “We will announce in full detail later this week what we have in mind in terms of strengthening Ukraine’s air defenses. But the United States, along with our allies and partners, is committed to doing more to help Ukraine, including strategic air defense systems.”
The Pentagon has an arsenal of 62 Patriots -according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies-, but they are not immediately available: they are deployed in certain bases in the United States, and in the Middle East, Japan and South Korea to face possible attacks from Iran, China and North Korea.
An initiative put forward by the Netherlands is also attempting to assemble a Patriot battery using parts supplied by various NATO partners. The company that makes the Patriot, Raytheon, takes three years for each unit, while the Dutch proposal would take eight months to complete.
In this context, and if negotiations at the DC summit are successful, Zelensky would have the Patriot proposed by the Netherlands, at least two supplied by the United States, and three more provided by Romania, Germany and Italy. Six in total.
And once this emergency phase is over, NATO would use its institutional influence to get Raytheon to complete the manufacturing process for the Patriots in less than the 36 months established in its procedures manual.
“In Ukraine, Russia continues its brutal war. Only today we have seen horrendous missile attacks on Ukrainian cities, killing innocent civilians, including children. I condemn these heinous attacks. At the Summit we will take decisions to further strengthen our support for Ukraine,” said Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO, during his meeting with Lloyd J. Austin, Secretary of Defense of the United States.
In this context, NATO intends to approve at the Washington Summit a $40 billion aid package that will serve to support the war effort led by Zelensky. This amount will be provided by the alliance’s partners and Ukraine – with the advice of NATO military personnel – will determine its final destination.
On Thursday there will be a formal meeting between Biden and Zelensky, and in this scenario military aid aimed at confronting Russia until its final defeat would be announced. It is a risky task, with an open ending, given the different alliances that Putin has forged with China, Iran and North Korea.Infobae.
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2024-07-11 01:40:22
