Free Republic

The British military—the leading U.S. military ally and Europe’s biggest defense spender—has only around 150 deployable tanks and perhaps a dozen serviceable long-range artillery pieces. So bare was the cupboard that last year the British military considered sourcing multiple rocket launchers from museums to upgrade and donate to Ukraine, an idea that was dropped. France, the next biggest spender, has fewer than 90 heavy artillery pieces, equivalent to what Russia loses roughly every month on the Ukraine battlefield. Denmark has no heavy artillery, submarines or air-defense systems. Germany’s army has enough ammunition for two days of battle.

Days after taking office as Germany’s vice chancellor and economy minister in December, Robert Habeck asked his most senior officials for a detailed assessment of his country’s dependence on Russian energy. The result shocked him. The country heavily relied on Russian hydrocarbons to power vehicles and factories and heat homes, and there was no contingency plan to secure other supplies, Mr. Habeck said. The government had no viable alternative to Russian imports.

Ukrainian fighters wounded while battling the Russian invasion will be treated in hospitals in Germany and Poland, officials from both countries said Sunday. German hospitals, including military clinics in Berlin, will start treating Ukrainian fighters on Monday, according to two senior German government officials. The wounded will be transported from the battlefield by road and rail to neighboring Poland, which shares borders with both Ukraine and Germany. They will then be airlifted to specialist German clinics depending on the treatment required, the officials said. Poland will also treat wounded Ukrainian fighters, a Polish government spokesman said. A Polish medical train...