Ukraine needs an air shield

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The remarkable success of last week’s international air campaign to shield Israel from an unprecedented Iranian attack demonstrated that the United States and its allies possess the capabilities to protect Ukrainian civilian population centres from missile and drone strikes launched by Russia.

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However, the Biden administration refuses to do for Ukraine what it has done for Israel, because it fears a direct confrontation with Russia that could ultimately lead to a global war. As a result, Russia will continue to flatten Ukrainian cities, destroy power plants and terrorize civilians.

Air shield

At the direction of President Joe Biden, U.S. forces in the Middle East “intercepted dozens of missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles after Iran and its proxies launched more than 300 air threats on the evening of April 13 and the morning of April 14 from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, in route to Israel,” Pentagon press secretary U.S. Air Force Maj.-Gen. Pat Ryder stated in a prepared statement during an April 15 news briefing. The Iranian onslaught included more than 110 medium-range ballistic missiles, over 30 land attack cruise missiles and in excess of 150 drones.

“It’s pretty telling that Iran launched over 300 air threats … and 99 per cent of those were knocked down,” Ryder said. “So it is demonstrative of that close co-ordination and synchronization between the United States and coalition partners when it comes to addressing air defence threats in the region.”

Ukrainian reaction

“Ukraine condemns Iran’s attack on Israel using ‘Shahed’ drones and missiles,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine, declared in a social media post the day after the attack. “We in Ukraine know very well the horror of similar attacks by Russia, which uses the same ‘Shahed’ drones and Russian missiles, the same tactics of mass air strikes,” he said.

“The entire world witnessed allied action in the skies above Israel and neighbouring countries,” Zelenskyy wrote in an April 15 post on X. “It demonstrated how truly effective unity in defending against terror can be when it is based on sufficient political will. Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Jordan acted together and with maximum efficiency.”

The Ukrainian leader also pointed out that Israel isn’t a member of NATO. And he noted that missiles “in the skies above Ukraine sound identical to those over the Middle East.” Moreover, he said that the impact of ballistic missiles, “if they are not intercepted, is the same everywhere.”

According to Zelenskyy, Russia attacked Ukraine with approximately 130 Iranian-made Shahed drones, 80 missiles and nearly 700 guided aerial bombs during the second week of April.

Terror from above

Russia is a terrorist state, employing diabolical tactics to cause maximum civilian casualties. For example, The Kyiv Independent reports that Russia is using “double tap” strikes to murder civilians and first responders.

“Hitting a building, waiting for first responders and the media to arrive, and hitting the same place again to target those who came to put out the fire, help the victims or document a potential war crime is a well-honed tool of Russia in its wars,” reads an April 16 report by journalist Dinara Khalilova.

In response to yet another missile attack on a Ukrainian city, Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, took to X on April 17 to denounce the latest Russian atrocity. “Russian terrorists launched missiles into the centre of Chernihiv, killing at least 11 and injuring at least 22 people as of now,” Kuleba posted. The death toll continues to rise.

“Three days ago in the Middle East, we saw what reliable protection of human lives from missiles looks like,” Kuleba posted. “Ukraine’s partners have the necessary means to help us save Ukrainian lives with the same level of efficiency.”

On April 17, Zelenskyy addressed a special meeting of the European Council, via video link. “I informed EU leaders of another Russian terrorist attack on our city of Chernihiv,” he wrote in a post.

“Unfortunately, in Ukraine and our part of Europe, we do not have the level of defence that we saw in the Middle East a few days ago. Our Ukrainian sky and our neighbours’ skies deserve the same level of security. And I appreciate everyone who sees our need for security as a need for equal security for all, because all lives are equally valuable.”

Ukraine is not Israel

The possibility of the United States shielding Ukraine from Russian missile and drone attacks was raised at an April 16 news briefing at the U.S. State Department.

“I think it is important to note the context that we have an entirely different relationship with Ukraine and Israel, in that our relationship with Israel goes back decades and — in terms of a security partnership,” said Matthew Miller, a department spokesperson. “We have had a decades-long security partnership with Israel where we have been providing them direct military aid — not just going back two years of a conflict but for decades — and have had long, broad-standing communications between our military and the Israeli military that goes back decades.”

Describing Israel as “a major non-NATO ally of the United States,” Miller said the U.S. simply does not have that  “kind of agreement” with Ukraine. “But what you have seen us do since this conflict is provide them with the equipment they need to defend themselves, and that includes, of course, air-defence systems, Patriot systems, and other air-defence systems that we have either provided the Ukrainian military ourselves or we have sourced from other partner and ally countries around the world so they can defend themselves.”

Miller said that much of the credit for the Ukrainians’ success in defending themselves against “barrage after barrage after barrage of Russian attacks is because of those air-defence systems that we have provided.”

“We are not in armed military conflict with Russia, which is what it would require for U.S. planes to be in the skies over Ukraine engaging with Russian attacks,” Miller explained. “And we are not going to be in direct armed conflict with Russia. The president of the United States has been, has made that, very clear. I think it’s in the interests of the American people that we not be in direct armed conflict between the United States and Russia, because we do not want World War III.”

Dire situation

“It’s a dire situation right now in Ukraine,” the U.S. Air Force’s Maj.-Gen. Ryder admitted in the April 14 news conference. “You’ve got Russian forces that are making some gains on the front line. And it’s absolutely essential that we get Ukraine what they need to include air defence capabilities so that they can check Russian aggression, defend their territory, and ultimately take back their sovereign territory.”

When asked by a reporter if Ukraine would run out of interceptor missiles within weeks or months, Ryder replied: “Look, I’m not going to get into the specific timeline other than it’s just urgent that we get them that capability.”

In a recent interview with PBS, Zelenskyy clearly stated that, due to the lack of adequate air defences, Ukraine cannot stop massive Russian missile attacks. For example, Russia launched 11 missiles at the Trypillya Thermal Power Plant near Kyiv. The Ukrainian defenders only had enough interceptor missiles to shoot down seven of the incoming Russian missiles. As a result, the power plant was destroyed.

The Republican-dominated U.S. House of Representatives is tentatively scheduled, after months of delay that has cost countless Ukrainian lives, to vote on legislation authorizing supplementary military assistance for Ukraine.

The Ukraine-NATO Council will convene on April 19 to honour Zelenskyy’s urgent request to discuss “the protection of skies and the supplies of air defence systems and missiles.”

Conclusion

“Terrorists can only destroy lives if they first intimidate those who can stop terror and save lives,” Zelenskyy declared in an April 17 post. Tragically, the West is intimidated by Vladimir Putin’s hollow threats of nuclear war.

Follow Geoffrey P. Johnston on Mastodon @GeoffyPJohnston@c.im.