Washington Wednesday - Aid to Ukraine

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Wednesday the 16th of March, 2022.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. It’s time for Washington Wednesday.

First up: U.S. aid to Ukraine.

Congress last week approved almost $14 billion for military and humanitarian aid for that country. Most lawmakers on both sides of the aisle fully support backing Ukraine against the invading Russian military.

In fact, the House approved almost $4 billion more than what President Biden requested.

The flow of Western equipment and supplies is a lifeline for the Ukrainian army and the millions of civilians who have had to flee their homes.

REICHARD: Joining us now on the extent of aid Washington and its allies are providing is Bradley Bowman. He has served as a top national security adviser to members of the U.S. Senate. Bradley, good morning!

BRADLEY BOWMAN, GUEST: Good morning, how are you?

REICHARD: I’m well, thank you. Let’s start with military aid to Ukraine. Just in terms of weapons and raw materials, what have we provided and what are we providing right now to Ukraine?

BOWMAN: Yeah, the U.S. government has provided over $1.2 billion in the last year or so to Ukraine with a $350 million tranche about a week ago. Almost all of which has already arrived and a new $200 million tranche just in the last few days. And in terms of weapons, it's been a variety of things—small arms ammunition, but the two big game changers by far are the Javelin anti-tank missiles. These are shoulder launched missiles designed to destroy armored personnel carriers and tanks, which have been incredibly effective against Russian equipment. And then also what are called Man pads or stingers, these are shoulder launched missiles that can shoot down helicopters and fixed wing aircraft flying below roughly 10,000 feet. So those two weapons in particular have been incredibly effective on the battlefield and have deprived Russia of some of the advantages that many predicted that they would have.

REICHARD: What about intelligence, logistics, things like that?

BOWMAN: Yes, so we have provided intelligence to the Ukrainians but we have not provided everything we could provide. And this has been—as I've tried to call balls and strikes, this has been one area where I've leveled some constructive criticism at the administration. You know, there's general intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Hey, here's generally what the Russians are up to. And then there's a whole other kind of intelligence, what I would call target intelligence, basically, helping the Ukrainians have information they need to employ these weapons to actually target invading Russian forces. And according to my research and sources as of last week, unless it's changed since then, which I don't believe it has, there is some targeting intelligence we could be providing the Ukrainians that we are not.

REICHARD: We talked in yesterday’s program about a no-fly zone and why the United States is very reluctant to do that. But aside from that, is there anything that Ukraine is asking us for that we’re not providing?

BOWMAN: It's a great question, if I may, just very quickly on the no fly zone. You know, from the beginning, I've argued that we need to be worried more about helping beleaguered democracies and less about provoking authoritarian bullies like Putin. And so you'd think that kind of belief, which I've held for many years and advise senators as such after the 2014 Crimea invasion, would lead me to be a strong advocate for a no-fly zone. But I would just quickly add, if I may, for your listeners that, you know, to enforce a no-fly zone, you have to be prepared to shoot down Russian military aircraft. And in so doing, you would put the U.S. and Russia in direct combat, something that we avoided for four decades during the Cold War. And by the way, you hear a lot of people talking about closing the skies is a term you'll hear a lot of Ukrainians pleading and my heart is certainly with them. But a no fly zone doesn't necessarily close the skies because they can continue to conduct missile attacks with aircraft not in that region. They can continue to conduct them from the ground or even from military vessels. So just because you keep Russian aircraft out of a designated area will not stop the butchering that we see going on in the ground via Russia attacks. So that's just an important nuance there that I think it's important for Americans to understand.

In terms of things that the Ukrainians are asking for, or that they need that we haven't provided yet, you know, it's moving very quickly. But as of last week, I was pushing, we need to provide them with secure communications equipment, because a lot of the command and control communicating that they're doing is on unsecure lines that the Russians can listen into. So I think we should help them with that. I do fear that we could see a chemical attack, honestly. So I think we need to be providing them the protective suits to survive and operate after a chemical attack. I think we need to help them with anti-jamming and the list goes on and on. But continuing to provide those javelin and stinger missiles I think is far and away the most important thing we can do, especially before many of the cities get fully surrounded in providing this equipment will become much more difficult.

REICHARD: Bradley, we recently saw a Russian missile strike hit a target very close to the Polish border. Poland is, of course, a NATO ally. If Russia were to, even by accident, strike somewhere over the Polish border, what do you think would happen?

BOWMAN: I think this could escalate quickly. I mean, very quickly, you know, we don't know what's in the mind of Putin, right? And a lot of people pretend that they know. We don't know. And we don't know what's in the mind of a military commander to launch that missile. So you have to assume malign intent when something like that happens. You don't want to overreact, but we also can't be squishy in terms of making clear that an attack against one is attacking us all pursuant to Article Five of that 1949 North Atlantic Treaty, which has made NATO that hard thing for decades. That has determined invasion against the NATO country. And that's why really in the end, Putin has been willing to invade and occupy Georgia and Ukraine but not other countries. It's because of the deterrent capability of NATO. And that's why I believe we need to focus like a laser beam on reinforcing NATO's eastern flank to make sure that Putin doesn't try to go further.

REICHARD: I want to ask you about humanitarian aid now. What kind of relief are Washington and its allies able to provide under the circumstances?

BOWMAN: You know, I think providing humanitarian aid is fundamental—both from a moral and compassionate perspective, but also from a national security perspective. We want to show that not only are we helping Ukraine defend its country against an authoritarian invasion and aggressor, but we also want to show that while Russia is bringing attacks on maternity wards, we're bringing food and aid for the vulnerable. And so, you know, talk is cheap, right? We have to back that up with our actions. So that's why I'm so glad to see the U.S. Agency for International Development playing a leading role. We have over 3 million refugees that have fled Ukraine, with Poland taking in most of those. I think we need to be moving heaven and Earth to help those NATO allies deal with this, you know, this extraordinary refugee flow. We know that Putin in the past, including Syria, has used refugees as a weapon, if you will, as sick as that is to try to destabilize Europe, frankly, and spark populist sentiment that weakens and divides the alliance. And I think what he has meant for ill, we should try to turn for good by leading with our hearts and our wallets and doing everything we can to help the poor Ukrainian people who are suffering so much.

REICHARD: Bradley Bowman is senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Bradley, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

BOWMAN: Thank you very much.

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