Exposed and exhausted: things are getting worse on Ukraine’s eastern front as Russian troops advance and airstrikes pummel cities— especially Ukraine’s second-biggest, Kharkiv. Air campaigns are knocking out Ukrainian energy facilities, and Ukraine’s top military commander is warning the situation in the east has “deteriorated significantly”. Two hours north of Kyiv in Chernihiv, the death toll rises again from Russian missiles. Ukraine is calling for more help from the West – more aid from the United States, and better protection.
As Russia intensifies its airstrikes campaign, we’re asking: How to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses? Our guests:Yuliya Bidenko, visiting researcher FU Berlin and associate professor at Kharkiv National Professor
Alexander Sorg, fellow at the Center for International Security at The Hertie School in Berlin
Wolfgang Richter, Military expert
Chapters:
00:00 Opener
01:30 The situation in Kharkiv is critical
02:30 Often there is no electricity, but daily life continues
03:45 The Russians want to cut supply chains in Ukraine
05:30 Video: The situation in Kharkiv
07:15 How long can Ukraine hold onto its cities in the east?
08:30 Collapsing frontlines because of personal shortages?
10:15 People try to live their lives, but that gets harder every day
11:50 It is still a costly war for Russia, but Ukraine is increasingly outgunned
12:30 If Ukraine is losing, the West is not doing enough
13:45 The new conscription law will take a long time to be implemented
15:40 Training of new Ukrainian recruits takes at least two month
18:40 Russia is recruiting 30,000 new soldiers every month
19:45 Video: Zelenskyy on more support for air defense
22:45 The difference between Israel and Ukraine in air defense
24:24 The gap the US left since November is being felt now
25:15 Will the US aid package finally be delivered?
The Pentagon has long been preparing ammunition deliveries to Ukraine. They are ready to be sent via Poland and the US Army's logistics centers in Germany.
Following the go-ahead from Washington, things have begun to move very fast: US ammunition shipments are about to travel to Ukraine from Poland and also from Germany and other EU countries.
Ukraine has also been waiting for months. Lacking ammunition, troops are under massive artillery attack from Russian forces on the eastern front, and barely able to return fire.
"I also imagine that the Department of Defense has been working hard over the last several weeks to be ready," Ben Hodges, former commander-in-chief of the US land forces for Europe, told DW.
German security expert Nico Lange told DW that "the Pentagon has already packed things up and stowed them in the right places ready for departure so that things can now cross the border very quickly."
Ukraine's 'decentralized logistics' A sophisticated transport system is in place to protect the supplies from air attacks by Russia on their journey from Ukraine's border to troops within the country.
Since Russia's invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has built up "decentralized logistics" for armament deliveries, Lange said.
"The supplies are not all loaded onto one train, which would then become a prime target for attack," he said, "but are rather distributed across different trains, which often run at night."
Thanks to its international backers, Ukraine now also has a fleet of heavy-duty transporters at its disposal for deliveries by road.
There is a night curfew in Ukraine, which makes it more difficult for Moscow's target reconnaissance to locate the supply routes.
"The Russian Air Force with its huge advantage in terms of numbers and quality of aircraft has failed to be able to destroy even a single train or convoy bringing ammunition or equipment from Rzeszow, Poland, into and through Ukraine," Hodges said. The regional airport in the small town of Rzeszow in southeastern Poland is the most important hub for international aid.
Hodges said he assumed that US aircraft coming from Germany would land there. US military logistics can move arms and munitions quickly by rail or by C-17 aircraft that fly them to Rzeszow.
...Christian Mölling, the head of the Center for Security and Defense at the German Council on Foreign Relations, told DW that he believes the new US aid package will above all alleviate some of the pressure on Ukraine's allies in Europe.
Mölling said he did not believe, however, that US aid on this scale can be expected to continue.
For months, the supporters of US presidential candidate Donald Trump in the Senate had blocked aid to Ukraine.
"The Americans are buying us time, then European aid has to kick in," Mölling said.
He added that European countries must strengthen their own defenses in view of the threat from Russia and in order to assist Ukraine.
Russia to push Ukraine further back if Kyiv gets long range U.S. missiles, says Kremlin | Reuters
More US aid will help Ukraine avoid defeat in its war with Russia. Winning is another matter
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Soldiers carry the coffins of two Ukrainian army sergeants during their funeral in Lviv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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The body of a woman killed by Russian bombardment in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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Ribbons with the colors of the European Union and Ukraine are attached to a tree next to memorial wall of Ukrainian soldiers killed during the war in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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A woman rallies to raise awareness on the fate of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, April 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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Davyd Arakhamia, a lawmaker with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People party, talks during an interview with Associated Press in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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A volunteer makes a camouflage net at a facility producing material for Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. A newly approved package of $61 billion in U.S. aid may prevent Ukraine from losing its war against Russia. But winning it will be a long slog. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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From left, U.S. representatives Nathaniel Moran, R-Tx, Tom Kean Jr, R-NJ, Bill Keating, D-Mass, and Madeleine Deane, D-Pa, talk to journalists during a joint news conference outside Saint Michael cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 22, 2024. A newly approved package of $61 billion in U.S. aid may prevent Ukraine from losing its war against Russia. But winning it will be a long slog. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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