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Ukraine Battles to Rebuild a Depleted Military
The Wall Street Journal ^ | March 24, 2014 | JEANNE WHALEN and ALAN CULLISON

Posted on 03/24/2014 8:17:01 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

KIEV, Ukraine—As the Kremlin began its invasion of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea last month, a days-old government in Kiev turned to its military to stem the tide. There was an immediate problem: No car batteries for the military vehicles.

With coffers empty, Ukraine's fledgling government appealed to the U.S. embassy for help. The embassy said it would take weeks to get assistance, so the government had to search—among its own people—to find a regional oligarch, Ihor Kolomoisky, to kick in the funds to buy them locally.

According to a spokesman for the banking and oil products magnate, Mr. Kolomoisky spent "several million dollars" of his own money, but he stresses others are helping too. "There are lots of small businesses, farmers and local people who are pitching in to help the military bases," said the spokesman.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Russia; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: crimea; russia; russiancirclejerk; ukraine; ukrainecrisis; ukrainemilitary; viktoryanukovich; yuliatymoshenko
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1 posted on 03/24/2014 8:17:01 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

Kiev’s problem is the army is split right down the middle. It can’t be sure of the loyalty of Russophone army units.

And those on Crimea have already shifted allegiance to Russia.


2 posted on 03/24/2014 8:23:26 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: MinorityRepublican
As the Kremlin began its invasion of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea last month, a days-old government in Kiev turned to its military to stem the tide. There was an immediate problem: No car batteries for the military vehicles.

These are the sorts of problems corrupt governments run by crony-capitalists will face. I've said before - I am not sure Ukraine is a nation. Its a multi-ethnic appendage that fell off a leprous and dying Soviet Union. It also has the lowest birth rate in Europe. They sound rather like a group of cynical people who don't have much interest in surviving as a nation.

The West wants it to be a bulwark against Russian expansionism, but its a pretty sad horse to bet on.

3 posted on 03/24/2014 8:24:50 PM PDT by PGR88
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To: PGR88

Rebuilding Ukraine’s army is an expensive undertaking and the country doesn’t have the cash to do it.

All it can hope is the Russians will calculate an invasion is too expensive for them.


4 posted on 03/24/2014 8:27:53 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop
Kiev’s problem is the army is split right down the middle.

No it's not. 80% of Ukraine wants nothing to do with Russia. And most folks who are army age weren't even alive when Ukraine was "part" of Russia.

5 posted on 03/24/2014 8:37:58 PM PDT by FreeReign
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To: PGR88

I don’t think the Obama team is smart enough to think that far ahead, is if it would be ahead at this point.

Obama is a reactionary, and he really doesn’t give a carp at all about the situation in the Ukraine. If it humiliates the West, he couldn’t be happier.

The only reason why he’s acting like he cares at all, is because the public perception weighs heavily on him. If he just blows it off, he becomes a total idiot in the eyes of the public.

If he acts like he gives a rip, he can at least play the “well there’s only so much we can do” card. Then he can go upstairs, put up his feet land laugh out loud, “As if I give a rat’s ass!”

I don’t think it’ wise to play up the differences within the Ukraine. The country has lasted 22 years. It hasn’t been a hot-bed of trouble. For the most part it has been reasonably well adjusted. I agree that it’s government has made mistakes. Frankly, look at ours over the last 22 years.

The Ukraine deserves at the very least, our moral support. If Putin sees a complete rejection of his actions, and the perception building in the West that he is coming very close to looking like Hitler in the 1930s, it may cause him to weigh his actions more heavily.

We should not as Conservatives be telegraphing a green light by trashing the Ukraine every chance we get. Perhaps there’s some reason to. Is it going to be productive right now to do the dirty laundry in public?

What Russia did was wrong.

The Ukraine needs to get back on track, and left alone it will. Russia needs to pull it’s nose back onto it’s face and back off.


6 posted on 03/24/2014 8:42:16 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Immigration Reform is job NONE. It isn't even the leading issue with Hipanics. Enforce our laws.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Yet now we’re going to give them a billion dollars that will probably disappear in someone’s pocket without at trace.


7 posted on 03/24/2014 8:48:02 PM PDT by Rob the Ugly Dude
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To: Rob the Ugly Dude

The funny thing is that cash is going to find its way back into Russia’s coffers. After all, money is fungible.


8 posted on 03/24/2014 8:50:34 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-24/poland-quietly-mobilizing-its-army-reservists


9 posted on 03/24/2014 8:55:14 PM PDT by Therapsid
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To: FreeReign

25 years isn’t such a long time for statehood.

Anyway, a political solution will save every one from having to take sides.

The likely outcome is a federal arrangement in Ukraine concluded between the West and Russia.


10 posted on 03/24/2014 8:57:26 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: MinorityRepublican

They had third most powerful military in the world just 20 years ago. At least in numbers it was on par with modern US military, just slightly shorter in warships and strategic nukes.
And all their best assets ended up in hands of anyone willing to pay a dime. That is how China got an aircraft carrier and 4gen fighter technology at a ridiculous price.
There were numerous cases of criticism considering Budapest agreement on Ukrainian nuclear disarmament on this board but has anyone thought how could it work wouldn’t they’ve been disarmed?
I think hundreds heavily discounted warheads on black market is a realistic scenario.
Not only Iran but Hamas and drug cartels wouldn’t mind to offer a condo in Miami to a Ukrainian politician for one and get another for free.


11 posted on 03/24/2014 9:17:34 PM PDT by wetphoenix
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To: MinorityRepublican

A real president would have flooded Ukraine with money, weapons, and advisers as soon as this crisis began not to mention massing our military in Eastern Europe.


12 posted on 03/24/2014 9:25:39 PM PDT by Red White and Blue patriot (USA all the way. Love it or Leave it. Ted Cruz 2016)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Send them some Warthogs.


13 posted on 03/24/2014 9:33:41 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: goldstategop

We should send them some stuff—maybe some old things we have. Give them some old mothballed ships. Like Lend Lease in ww II—Maybe we could send some hot fighters and pilots like the old Flying Tigers in China ? Europe can help with some arms. Russians may want a land link to Criema. The US should give them some planes and ships. Better them than the Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt.


14 posted on 03/24/2014 9:35:53 PM PDT by Forward the Light Brigade (Into the Jaws of H*ll)
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To: goldstategop

Those formerly in charge of the Ukrainian military Putin doesn’t hire have the perfect résumés for Obama’s Pentagon. They’ve already destroyed one great armed forces.


15 posted on 03/24/2014 9:44:05 PM PDT by JohnBovenmyer (Obama been Liberal. Hope Change!)
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To: goldstategop

“25 years isn’t such a long time for statehood.”

The Ukraine has been a sovereign state for almost 97 years, not “25 years.” The Ukrainian sovereignty while a member of the Soviet Union was recognized by the United Nations, which seated the Ukrainian government as a seperate state. Furthermore it has been only 22 years and 7 months since the Ukraine’s membership in the Soviet Union was dissolved in August 1991, and not 25 years.

“Anyway, a political solution will save every one from having to take sides.”

That is a false statement used for pro-Russian disinformation and propaganda. If that were the case, Putin would have used political diplomacy and perhaps a purchase of the Crimea instead of brute military force against the sovereign Ukraine to forcibly conquer and annex the territory.

“The likely outcome is a federal arrangement in Ukraine concluded between the West and Russia.”

That is a false statement used for pro-Russian disinformation and propaganda, because the Russian insistence upon federalizing the Ukrainian provinces is designed specifically to divide the Ukraine up until it can be fully conquered and annexed by Russia. The Bolshevists used the same methods to conquer the independent Ukrainian governments in 1917-1922.


16 posted on 03/24/2014 9:45:56 PM PDT by WhiskeyX ( provides a system for registering complaints about unfair broadcasters and the ability to request a)
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To: goldstategop

Most Ukrainian military in Crimea has now joined the Russian military. Virtually all ships turned over to Russia. Ukrainian naval commander now 2nd in command of Russian Black Sea Fleet.


17 posted on 03/24/2014 10:11:27 PM PDT by LowTaxesEqualsProsperity
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To: LowTaxesEqualsProsperity
Most Ukrainian military in Crimea has now joined the Russian military. Virtually all ships turned over to Russia. Ukrainian naval commander now 2nd in command of Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Some have and some haven't:

Ukrainian navy officers have rejected pleas for them to defect to the self-declared Crimean government at an extraordinary meeting at their headquarters in Sevastopol.

On Sunday the recently appointed navy commander-in-chief, Rear Admiral Denis Berezovsky, appeared on television to announce he was defecting to the Russian-supported Crimean authorities. But despite his appeals to officers on Monday, they said they would remain loyal to their oaths to serve Ukraine. Berezovsky has been accused of state treason by the new authorities in Kiev.

Elsewhere in Crimea, Russia continued in its attempts to intimidate Ukrainian forces into submission as troop manoeuvres against bases across the peninsula continued.

At Ukraine's naval command on Monday morning, officers lined up in the yard of their Sevastopol headquarters to be addressed by both Berezovsky and the newly appointed navy chief commander, Serhiy Haiduk.

The officers broke into applause as Haiduk read them an order from Kiev removing Berezovsky from his position, and told them that Berezovsky was facing treason charges. When Haiduk had finished his dry but compelling address, the officers spontaneously broke into the national anthem, and some were seen to cry. Berezovsky showed no visible sign of emotion.

During the Revolutionary War, Benedict Arnold wasn't the only officer of the Continental Army to defect to the Crown, although he was the most well-known example.
18 posted on 03/24/2014 10:54:16 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: goldstategop

Those on Crimea were from Russia. The indigenous Ukranian soldiers left after Putin’s army threatened their families with murder. The man you admire so much is a gangster, after all, worth $75 billion.


19 posted on 03/24/2014 11:42:56 PM PDT by elhombrelibre (Against Obama. Against Putin. Pro-freedom.)
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To: goldstategop

“And those on Crimea have already shifted allegiance to Russia.”

Lots of reasons for this, from family ties, to greater opportunities in the Russian sphere. In an almost-civil war like this, it takes times for loyalties to sort out. As it did in our own.

The fact that Ukraine can’t count on those already sworn to defend the nation says volumes about what has been happening inside Ukraine, for some time.

Most people don’t make that kind of a decision lightly.


20 posted on 03/24/2014 11:52:40 PM PDT by tcrlaf (Well, it is what the Sheeple voted for....)
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