They have delivered heavy weapons to Ukraine, and not only “defensive” ones. It was their missiles that severely damaged the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, the cruiser Moskva. Breaking news: Moscow announces that the ship has sunk.
In a phone call Wednesday with Zelensky, Joe Biden announced a large shipment of equipment from U.S. military stockpiles to Kiev, including artillery, armor, radar, anti-tank missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles and coastal defense vessels, according to a White House statement. The White House recently appeared to abandon its distinction between delivering “defensive” equipment, which it allowed, and “offensive” equipment, which it refused to provide. This massive new military aid was promised as Russia threatened to strike Kiev again.
No NATO involvement
Analysis: the US is getting involved in the conflict in a strong way, but for the time being, it is careful not to involve NATO. This is the normal logic: it minimizes NATO and makes them the only interlocutor in the future.
The objective is to weaken the Russian army as much as possible thanks to the Ukrainian ‘proxy’ which is now in the hands of the USA: one day Zelensky will rebel (when he will see that the USA take decisions for his country without his opinion) and from then on, Zelensky will be ejected (there is nothing easier than to turn a hero into a pariah when he has no real ‘strength’)
A symbolic objective
Note: it was American missiles that sank the cruiser Moskva – this is a very symbolic objective. To do this, one must ‘follow’ the ship in real time, and then have a real time chain of engagement until the missile is fired. This is beyond the reach of French capabilities, because the USA does this ‘without putting a foot on the ground’, everything is done from airborne ISR (reconnaissance and identification) (stealth drones) and space. We don’t know where the final action is carried out from, normally it should be from Colorado, because we don’t know of an American flying PC in Europe (which is not Nato). This action is a ‘message’ of American military capability to the whole region (Iran in particular).