NATO Summit Fails to Deliver on Ukraine's Aid, Ignoring Putin's Challenge

As Vladimir Putin sends a chilling message to NATO and President Joe Biden by deliberately targeting Ukrainian children's hospitals, the 75th-anniversary summit failed to deliver on promised aid, with the White House indefinitely blocking Ukraine's access to long-range missiles and Patriot air defense systems. This lack of leadership in Washington hampers NATO's ability to provide Ukraine with the necessary tools to protect itself, exacerbating the failure to put Ukraine on a clear path to membership. The absence of a strong reaction from NATO members convinces Putin that he is right, and he continues to escalate his aggression.

Key Takeaways:

• The White House blocked Ukraine's access to long-range ATACMS missiles, despite NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg's insistence that Ukraine has the right to hit legitimate targets on Russian territory.
• Only one new Patriot air defense system was offered to Ukraine, despite Volodymyr Zelensky's request for seven new systems to protect major cities.
• The U.S. and NATO are still slow-walking training for Ukrainian pilots, leaving only about a dozen prepared to fly a far larger number of aircraft.
• Israel has eight Patriot systems on loan from the U.S. that have been put into mothballs due to being considered old technology, yet the White House has failed to press Jerusalem to return some or all of them to Washington to be forwarded to Ukraine.
• European leaders emphasized the need for Washington to move faster on aid, citing the danger of Putin's aggression and the need to deter escalation.
• Despite some progress, the current White House policy of helping Ukraine hold the line without providing the necessary tools for it to win is unlikely to succeed.

Statistics:

• 100 Patriot air defense systems are available in the West, yet only Germany has delivered two, and the U.S. donated one.
• Only about one dozen Ukrainian pilots are trained to fly the F-16 aircraft promised to Ukraine.
• The U.S. has broken up a Russian assassination plot to murder Armin Papperger, the head of Europe's largest arms manufacturer, Rheinmetall.
• $40 billion in annual military aid will now be funneled proportionately by member states through NATO to try to Trump-proof any U.S. military aid cutoff.
• Two-thirds of NATO countries now meet the 2% floor on defense spending.

Sources:

• Trudy Rubin, Op-ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Jul 14
• CNN report on the Russian assassination plot to murder Armin Papperger