In an interview with PBS News journalist Nick Schifrin on Monday, President Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan seemed to assign blame for the stalemate in Ukraine on manpower shortfalls rather than the absence of specific weapon systems and the authorizations required to use them against imminent Russian and North Korean threats in Russia.
According to Sullivan, “It’s about manpower, and Ukraine needs to do more, in our view, to firm up its lines in terms of the number of forces it has on the front lines... Where is the straightest line between Ukrainian performance and inputs? It’s on mobilization and manpower.”
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He went on to add that, “Our view has been that there’s not one weapon system that makes a difference in this battle… We have provided the tanks. We have provided the F-16s. We have provided the HIMARS. We have provided the Patriots.”
The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have been quite efficient in killing and wounding Russian soldiers in the close fight – or as Sullivan would say, the “front lines” – 728,300 as of Friday. Russia is losing over 1,000 soldiers a day. On Nov. 11 they lost over 2,000 soldiers in the Kursk Oblast alone. At that pace, they will amass over 1 million casualties by the New Year.
So no, the issue is not manpower at the front lines, it is Russia’s ability to generate combat power and flow forces, equipment, and weapons onto Ukrainian battlefields unabated. It is the White House policy of providing sanctuary for these forces and their weapons systems in Russia that is undermining Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s efforts to win the war. It is the incessant cowering to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin every time they call foul.
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“Close with and destroy the enemy” is not in the Biden lexicon. Instead, Sullivan offers, “We supply the means to Ukraine to defend its sovereignty on territorial integrity” and excuses.
“Just enough“ and “weaken Russia“ remain the policies. General George S. Patton said it best, “Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.”
The Biden Administration’s approval to send anti-personnel mines to Ukraine is not a capability that will help Zelensky win the war. It is another defensive weapon for Ukrainian soldiers in Sullivan’s front lines.
Biden’s authorization allowing Ukraine to use ATACMS for “limited strikes inside Russia” – the Kursk Oblast – is welcomed news. However, it fails to address the other threats to Ukraine in an attempt to avoid inciting Putin. As Bob Woodward so eloquently observed in his latest book War: “Nuclear weapons were the silent shadow present in all their [Biden Administration] deliberations.”
However, in response to Biden’s change in policy concerning ATACMS, Putin lowered the threshold for Russia’s use of nuclear weapons. His new doctrine allows for a potential nuclear response by Moscow, even to a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power – i.e., the US or NATO.
Biden would do well to channel the intestinal fortitude of another great American General – Ulysses S. Grant. Grant earned the title “Unconditional Surrender Grant” during the American Civil War. Relentless pursuit, constant pressure, and aggressiveness – never let the enemy rest.
That begins through interdiction: an action to divert, disrupt, delay, or destroy the enemy’s military surface capability before it can be used effectively against friendly forces, or to otherwise achieve objectives.
As we stated in the Kyiv Post, “The AFU requires the ability to interdict Moscow and Pyongyang’s forces before they arrive on the battlefield – at the railheads, seaports, and airfields… That requires precision deep strike capability and the authorities to use them whenever and wherever the threat resides.”
Furthermore, “Ukraine urgently needs the ability to strike ballistic missile and drone launch sites – from wherever they are fired. Shooting individual missiles out of the sky does not defeat the weapon system. If left unchecked, that weapon system and its crew will fire again, and again.”
The temporary closure of the US Embassy in Kyiv in the wake of a “warning of a potentially significant Russian air attack on the Ukrainian capital” this week was the result of not destroying these weapon systems sooner.
Slow rolling capabilities, restricting use of weapon systems, and an uncompromising policy of staying defensive are why Ukraine cannot win. Trying to shift blame to Zelensky’s prosecution of the war is typical of this “not my fault” White House. Biden’s policies have contributed to this war of attrition.
President-elect Trump could right this wrong. Stop the flow of forces into Ukraine and the unending ballistic missile drone assaults, and Zelensky wins this war.
Copyright 2024, Mark C. Toth and Jonathan E. Sweet. All rights reserved. Used by the Kyiv Post with the authors’ permission.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the authors’ and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Sweet served 30 years as a US Army intelligence officer. Mark Toth writes on national security and foreign policy.
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