Thumpalumpacus
Major
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov says Ukraine is already transitioning to Western-caliber technology, including 155-millimeter artillery. He says the move will ensure Ukraine becomes fully "interoperable" with NATO, which will strengthen the alliance's eastern flank.
In NATO-speak, this means Ukrainians would be able work smoothly with NATO while helping to protect front-line NATO states, such as Poland.
Reznikov wrote on Facebook last week that "tectonic philosophical shifts have occurred" since he took up his position this past fall.
"I will admit — three months ago an achievement like this would have been considered almost impossible," he said. "But thanks to the courage and professionalism of Ukrainian defenders, and the resilience of the Ukrainian people, everything has changed."
He also credited a number of Ukrainian officials — including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and a slew of diplomats — with personally helping with the transition.
While Ukraine is still open to receiving Soviet-style equipment and weapons to strengthen its army in the short term, Reznikov said that "material changes have already taken place."
He noted that Ukraine's armed forces have been gaining expertise in the use of Western weapons for quite some time, though he said the specifics of this work were not being publicized for confidentiality reasons.
"I can provide an example of a recent and very relevant experience: Our artillerymen, who were training on a 155-mm ACS at a test site in one of our partner countries, hit their target with their first shot," he said. "And they then helped our foreign colleagues to improve the computer software that manages this ACS, which impressed them."
War in Ukraine live updates: Civilians escape from Mariupol; Europe looks for energy alternatives
European energy ministers are meeting in Brussels today to address Russia's move to cut off natural gas to Poland and Bulgaria and to consider a ban on Russian oil. Also, about 100 civilians were evacuated Sunday from a Mariupol steel plant.
www.npr.org
Of course this probably will not have much effect on this war. But it's telling that the concern is to make the Ukrainian military more compatible with NATO standards.
