By offering up its able-bodied male population for NATO’s frontline meat grinder, Kiev believes it is giving Washington the “best deal” possible.
(Image Source: WEF)
RT International reports…
The price of supporting the Ukrainian troops as a proxy force against Russia is miniscule compared to the overall US budget, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said in Davos, arguing that such a security investment benefits the US military industrial complex.
Unlike other US “allies,” Kiev is not even asking for American troops on the ground, Kuleba argued in an interview with Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“We kind of offer the best deal on the global market of security… Give us the weapons, give us the money, and we will finish the job,” Kuleba stated. “So you save the most important, you save the lives of your soldiers.”
The Ukrainian diplomat also claimed that Kiev “does not steal any money from American taxpayers,” arguing that “the sum of money allocated to Ukraine is to say the least a very little part” of the US military budget.
“Moreover, a vast amount of this money stays in the United States because it is invested in the production of weapons that go then to Ukraine,” he told reporters, adding that “it needs to be explained to the American taxpayers that their communities benefit from it.”
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Kuleba knows how to sell the proxy war to NATO:
– "We offer you the best deal: you don't sacrifice your soldiers, give us weapons and money, and we will finish the job" pic.twitter.com/EB4lWEgVId— Glenn Diesen (@Glenn_Diesen) January 21, 2024
Russia estimated that Kiev had received more than $203 billion in foreign assistance since the outbreak of the conflict. The US alone sent Kiev over 75$ billion, including over $45 billion in direct military aid, which is over 5% of the Pentagon’s proposed 2024 budget.
READ MORE: Ukraine Must conscript more young blood says ex-UK defense secretary
Moscow has also repeatedly accused the US and its allies of using the Ukraine crisis to wage a “proxy war” against Russia and turning the battlefield into a testing ground for Western military equipment. Even the Pentagon and the UK’s former defense secretary have described Ukraine as a “battle lab” and a “military innovation laboratory.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry has described Kiev’s losses throughout the conflict as catastrophic, estimating that the Ukrainian military has lost nearly 400,000 troops – killed and wounded – since February 2022, including over 160,000 during its failed counteroffensive last year.
Kiev has never officially disclosed its casualty figures, but the heavy losses have been indirectly corroborated by its ever-widening mobilization effort, which has grown increasingly lawless and violent during the hostilities. Late last year, President Vladimir Zelensky claimed the country’s military had asked him to round up another 500,000 recruits to bolster the ranks, although a new mobilization bill has yet to be passed.
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