The CDU defense expert Roderich Kiesewetter is known for pithy words. In an interview with Deutsche Welle, the retired major doesn’t mince his words. He demands that the war must come to Russia. And by that he also means the Taurus cruise missile, the German bunker buster with a long range. He literally says: “The war must be brought to Russia. Russian military installations and headquarters must be destroyed. We must do everything to enable Ukraine to destroy not only oil refineries in Russia, but ministries, command posts, command posts. “
From a military perspective, Kiesewetter is right. However, the statement has a meaning that he prefers to keep quiet. Currently, the war on the ground is not going well for Ukraine. The Russians are shaking the Ukrainian front line in several places. They only manage to gain small amounts of terrain. So far. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. British intelligence assumes that Putin can continue this form of offensive for as long as he wants. The Russians are able to replace their losses. It can even be assumed that they are getting stronger every month.
But what happens if at some point Ukrainian troops are so worn down that they no longer retreat in an orderly manner, but instead sections of the front collapse? Such an offensive can only be stopped if targets in the hinterland are hit. Behind the front and also in Russia. So that the supply comes to a standstill and the command structures are shaken. This could free up the Ukrainian armed forces and significantly increase the costs of the war for Russia. No more and no less.
At the same time, Kiesewetter calls for increased efforts in Europe and to compensate for the loss of US aid. Whether the Europeans can or want to bear the financial burden is still up for debate. But the states of Europe cannot replace the military arsenal of the USA. Ukraine can only continue the war with the support of the USA. Kiev and Western Europe must ensure that this support continues. Even in the election campaign and regardless of who will be the next president. Trump bashing is understandable and on the tip of many tongues. But it doesn’t work without the USA and it is irresponsible to suggest the opposite.
Large equipment that Kiev is scheduled to receive in 2024 and partly in 2025 must already be in the warehouse or be in production. Especially when it comes to long-range precision weapons, there is no way around the USA’s supplies. The strikes that Kiesewetter envisions can be delivered solely by weapons such as the Americans’ GLSDB glide bombs and Atacams missiles. The war in Ukraine is crying out for numbers. The Taurus is not a miracle weapon that can turn the tide of war in homeopathic doses. It is a high quality weapon that can take out special targets. But she can’t take the war to all of Russia. To understand the dimension: the Russians dropped over 1,000 glide bombs on the Ukrainian positions in a month.
What is also overlooked is that Kiev will become blind and deaf without the USA. Without the spy satellites, the Global Hawks and the air surveillance, Kiev lacks the necessary target reconnaissance to be able to use precision weapons sensibly. Without the private, but still American, Starlink system, the communication of the Ukrainian armed forces collapses. Even to attack static objects such as a factory, Russian air defenses must be known in order to determine the route.
Trump alone is not the problem, he is just exaggerating a widespread sentiment. Given domestic problems of homelessness, crumbling infrastructure and drug epidemics, spending on protracted wars is unpopular. Many Americans are wondering what the enormous costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have brought them. To ensure that US aid does not dry up in the election year, tact and not bluster are required. Kiesewetter’s defiant “We can do it alone” is a great template for Donald Trump. He would answer: “Great! Wonderful, Roderich! Then do it yourself!”
Source: Deutsche Welle
