Ukraine War, April 28, 2022 (II): The cost of delay–heavy weapons may not reach the front in time

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To see a list of previous articles, enter “Ukraine” in the Search Box on the upper right, on The Trenchant Observer web site, and you will see a list in chronological order.

Dispatches

1) Christoph Seidler, “Es ist egal, wie viele Waffen man hat – wenn man sie nicht an die Front bekommt”; Die Ukraine meldet gezielte Angriffe auf ihr Bahnnetz, was westliche Waffenlieferungen erschweren dürfte. Diese mögliche neue Angriffstaktik der Russen könnte Folgen haben – für beide Kriegsparteien, Der Spiegel, den 28. Abril 2022 (11.48 Uhr);

Commentary

The cost of hesitation and delay in providing heavy weapons to Ukraine may be extremey high. The weapons may not get to the Front, or at least not in time to have a decisive impact on the battle in the Donbas and in southern Ukraine.

Russia is attacking the rail network.

Seidler reports on the details, with a map of major rail lines.

If the weapons can’t be transported to the front lines by rail, NATO may face the hard decision of whether or not to deliver them by armed convoys with effective air defense protecting the convoys.

Alternatively, NATO might try to fly the equipment in. This would require effective control of the skies in certain areas and anti-missile defenses to protect the transport aircraft, if indeed such an operation is militarily feasible.

The Trenchant Observer

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