American general calls Russia 'chronic threat' to United States and urges assistance to Ukraine

Photo: United States Army General Christopher Cavoli (GettyImages)

Russia poses a “chronic threat” to the United States, and the seriousness of the situation in the war in Ukraine cannot be overstated given its need for external assistance to continue the fight. If the United States withdraws its support, Ukraine could lose, according to Christopher Cavoli, the Commander-in-Chief of US European Command and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.

At the same time, Cavoli expressed the opinion that providing the necessary assistance, primarily artillery ammunition, is the key to Ukraine’s victory in the war, which is increasingly becoming a competition between the industrial military complexes of the enemies.

In particular, speaking about Ukraine, he expressed absolute confidence that it can win the war if it has the right level of ammunition supply because Ukrainians have skill and determination.

The general believes that given the proper level of production, the side with the greater determination will win, and that will be Ukraine.

Ammunition issue

“In the past 26 months of this war, the U.S. and our partners have delivered vast amounts of critical munitions and equipment to our Ukrainian colleagues,” Cavoli says.

At the same time, the general says that Ukraine continues to be almost completely dependent on the United States for the production and supply of 155-millimeter ammunition, in addition to some other key military technologies.

According to him, European production does not yet meet the level of needs, despite its gradual growth and investments to accelerate it.

General Cavoli says some European countries, such as Slovakia, have been able to quickly repurpose their old factories to produce these munitions. However, it will take several months for the EU’s production of 155 mm shells to reach the level of the United States.

He emphasizes that other European countries have provided Ukraine with all or almost all of their weapons.

Assistance to Ukraine

In late February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the transfer of ten Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine would have a dramatic impact on the situation in the war with Russia. In particular, he noted that 25 systems with 6-8 batteries each were needed to completely cover the sky.

Already on April 4, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Germany was initiating an immediate search for all Patriot batteries and other air defense systems available not only among its allies but also in the world, in general, to transfer them to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, France is preparing a new military aid package for Kyiv, which will include hundreds of armored vehicles and Aster anti-aircraft missiles.

Recently, the Czech Foreign Minister said that 1.5 million shells could be transferred to Ukraine as part of the initiative, rather than 800,000 as previously planned.

On April 10, the heads of government of the Netherlands, Denmark, and Czechia discussed the supply of additional air defense systems to Ukraine.