WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Navy Secretary Warns U.S. May Run Out of Weapons for Its Defense
Within the next six months, the United States Navy may need to decide whether to arm itself or Ukraine due to a reported weapons shortage.
The comment was made Wednesday by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro to a group of reporters on the sidelines of the 2023 Surface Navy Association National Symposium in Arlington, Virginia, Defense One editor Marcus Weisberger reported.
Weisberger tweeted that although the bulk of American weapons given to Ukraine are land weapons and not naval weapons, Del Toro's concerns are shared by others.
"An admiral alluded to the US needing to choose between itself and Ukraine during a panel at the conference," he wrote.
Del Toro is one of the dozens of members of the military, defense industry and Congress at the conference held January 10 to 12 that featured discussions about national defense and security.
His comments follow concerns expressed by James G. Stavridis, a retired U.S. Navy admiral who formerly served as the NATO supreme allied commander for Europe from 2009 to 2013, over the weekend.
Stavridis predicted that a prolonged conflict between Ukrainian defenders and Russian invaders would continue throughout the winter with neither side gaining an upper hand.
"When I put it all together, more war to go," he said. "Ukrainians win it on the ground. Russians winning in the skies."
Mark Cancian, a retired U.S. military officer at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, found Del Toro's reported comments "surprising" due to the Navy being least affected by weapons presently shipped to Ukraine.
"Those weapons are mostly for ground combat," Cancian told Newsweek. "The Navy, particularly in the Western Pacific, needs weapons for air and maritime combat. Although there are a few overlaps, like Harpoons, the tradeoffs are minor.
"Further, funding for arms sent to Ukraine has been in addition to the regular defense budget, so the services have not had to cut programs."
Harpoon anti-ship missiles have been described as probably the most common weapon of its type in the West. First produced by McDonnell Douglas in 1975 and now part of Boeing, over 7,000 have reportedly been produced and cost about $1.5 million each. They are launched from aircraft, trucks and submarines.
The missiles were part of a $1 billion security aid package to Ukraine approved by the Department of Defense last June.
"The provision of [the] Harpoon is not in response to any particular piece of new information," an unnamed DoD official said at the time. "It's a combination of continued consultation with the Ukrainians, and coastal defense still being near the top of their urgent requirements list."
That same month, Harpoon missiles were used by the Ukrainian Navy to strike a Russian vessel on its way toward Snake Island.
Ian Williams, deputy director of the CSIS Missile Defense Project, told Newsweek that it remains unclear which naval weapon systems Del Toro is referring to as most of the weapons that have been provided to Ukraine have been drawn from Army stocks.
He said a diversion of Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to Ukrainian National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) units could start affecting the U.S. Navy at some point.
"The Seasparrows are probably coming from the Navy, but those are pretty old and have been mostly replaced with the ESSM (Evolved SeaSparrow Missile)," Williams said. "But I think Del Toro's broader point is that the United States needs to ramp up its defense production capacity, which is true. If we're going to become the arsenal of democracy again, we need to scale up."
Newsweek reached out to Stavridis, the U.S. Navy and the Pentagon for comment.
** Russia appoints new leader of Ukraine campaign as Wagner says Soledar fully captured
Moscow named a new commander for its invasion of Ukraine while Russian private military firm Wagner Group said its capture of the salt mining town Soledar in eastern Ukraine was complete.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday appointed Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov as overall commander for what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, now in its 11th month.
The change effectively demoted General Sergei Surovikin, who was appointed only in October to lead the invasion and oversaw heavy attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Wagner and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said his forces had captured all of Soledar and killed about 500 Ukrainian soldiers after heavy fighting.
"I want to confirm the complete liberation and cleansing of the territory of Soledar," Prigozhin said in a statement.
"The whole city is littered with the corpses of Ukrainian soldiers," said Prigozhin.
U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters on Wednesday that he could not corroborate reports that Soledar was in Russian hands.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the situation in Soledar.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy mocked previous Wagner claims to have seized part of Soledar but made no immediate comment on the latest assertions.
"The terrorist state and its propagandists are trying to pretend that part of our town of Soledar ... is some sort of a Russian possession," Zelenskiy said in a video address. "But fighting continues."
In a statement on Facebook, the Ukrainian military general staff said Russian forces were suffering heavy losses as they tried to take Soledar and sever Ukrainian supply lines.
Russia has struggled to cement control over the town, which would be Russia's most substantial gain since August after a series of retreats before Ukrainian counter-offensives in the east and south.
A Russian Defence Ministry statement said the command reshuffle was meant to improve contacts between military branches and the effectiveness of the command structure.
One prominent military blogger who posts on the Telegram messaging app under the name of Rybar said Surovikin was being made the fall guy for recent Russian military debacles. Those included a Ukrainian attack on a Russian barracks that killed at least 89 Russian soldiers over New Year's.
Surovikin was ordered to head the campaign after Ukrainian offensives turned the tide of the war and drew attention to poor training, equipment and morale among Russian forces.
If pro-Russian forces succeed in taking Soledar, it would be a stepping stone in Moscow's thrust to capture Ukraine's eastern Donbas industrial region. The town would be a base to attack the nearby city of Bakhmut, which has held out for months and is a supply line hub in eastern Ukraine.
Before Wagner's latest statement, the Kremlin stopped short of claiming victory and acknowledged heavy casualties.
"Let's not rush, let's wait for official statements. There is a positive dynamic in progress," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
A Reuters photographer who reached the outskirts of Soledar in recent days said many residents had fled the town in perishing cold. Smoke could be seen rising over the town and the incoming artillery fire was relentless, she said.
MISSING BRITONS
Earlier, Russian state news agency RIA said Wagner had taken over Soledar's salt mines and a photograph on the militia's Telegram channel appeared to show Prigozhin and his fighters inside a mine.
Wagner separately said its forces found the body of one of two British voluntary aid workers reported missing in eastern Ukraine. It did not give the name of the dead man. A photo appeared to show passports bearing the names of Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Parry, the two missing workers.
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, saying Kyiv's close ties with the West and ambitions to join NATO threatened its security. Kyiv and its allies accuse Moscow of an unprovoked war to seize territory in a neighbour it once dominated within the former Soviet Union.
RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Wagner comments on Ukrainian casualties in Soledar
Ukrainian soldiers surrounded in Soledar have either surrendered or been killed, Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Wednesday. Fighters with the private military company completely surrounded the Donbass town the day before and are now clearing the extensive tunnel network in the town's salt mines.
“I want to repeat that Soledar has been fully liberated and cleared of Ukrainian army units,” Prigozhin said in a statement on Wednesday evening. “The Ukrainian troops that refused to surrender have been destroyed.”
Prigozhin estimated that around 500 Ukrainian troops have been killed after Wagner forces closed the encirclement of Soledar.
“The entire town is littered with the bodies of Ukrainian servicemen,” he said.
Wagner fighters first circulated a video taken in downtown Soledar on Tuesday, as proof the town administration was under their control. Later in the day, Prigozhin was filmed touring the salt mine tunnels, which he said Wagner was starting to clear. The tunnel network is approximately 300 kilometers (186 miles) long and reaches hundreds of meters below the ground level.
Prigozhin also quashed rumors, circulating due to a meeting of Russian and Ukrainian officials in Türkiye on Wednesday, that some kind of evacuation was being arranged.
“There can be no word of any humanitarian corridor,” he said, noting that all civilians have already been evacuated from the town.
Soledar had around 10,000 residents before the conflict. The Ukrainian army turned it into a strongpoint after being pushed out of Popasnaya in mid-2022. Russian control of the town now threatens to unravel the entire Ukrainian front in Donbass.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky had acknowledged on Sunday that the situation in Soledar was “very difficult” but vowed that Ukrainian troops would continue to hold “no matter what.”
Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian president Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”
Moscow demands that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.
** Russian paratroopers block Soledar from north and south
Russian Airborne Force units blocked Soledar from the north and the south and are battling Ukrainian troops in the town, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Wednesday.
"Airborne Force units have blocked Soledar from the town’s northern and southern parts. The Russian Aerospace Forces are delivering strikes at enemy strongholds. Assault groups are engaged in a battle in the town," the spokesman said.
Russian forces struck 74 Ukrainian artillery units over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.
"Operational-tactical and army aviation aircraft, missile troops and artillery struck a battalion command and observation post of the Ukrainian army’s 57th motorized infantry brigade near the town of Artyomovsk in the Donetsk People’s Republic. Also, 74 Ukrainian artillery units, manpower and military hardware were struck in 113 areas over the past 24 hours," the spokesman said.
Russian forces delivered strikes at amassed manpower of two Ukrainian army brigades in the Kupyansk area, destroying over 30 militants in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Kupyansk area, artillery and army aviation strikes at amassed manpower of the Ukrainian army’s 92nd mechanized brigade and 103rd territorial defense brigade in areas near the settlements of Sinkovka and Kislovka in the Kharkov Region, and also Novosyolovskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic eliminated over 30 Ukrainian servicemen and two motor vehicles," the spokesman said.
The Ukrainian military suffered roughly 90 casualties in the Krasny Liman area over the past day as a result of damage inflicted by Russian artillery and combat aircraft, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Krasny Liman area, artillery fire, assault and army aviation strikes inflicted damage on the assault groups of the Ukrainian army’s 95th and 80th air assault brigades and 25th airborne brigade in areas near the settlements of Torskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Chervonaya Dibrova, Makeyevka and Chervonopopovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.
Russian troops also eliminated four Ukrainian subversive/reconnaissance groups in the Lugansk People’s Republic and in the Serebryansky forestry. In all, the enemy lost as many as 90 troops killed and wounded, two armored fighting vehicles and three motor vehicles in that area over the past 24 hours, the general specified.
Russian forces liberated the community of Podgorodnoye southwest of Soledar in the Donetsk area, eliminating about 80 Ukrainian troops over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the Donetsk area, Russian troops liberated the community of Podgorodnoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic as a result of successful offensive operations," the spokesman said.
As a result of battles in that area, Russian troops destroyed as many as 80 Ukrainian servicemen, one tank, three armored fighting vehicles and two motor vehicles of the Ukrainian army’s 61st mechanized and 17th tank brigades, the general specified.
Russian troops eliminated roughly 25 Ukrainian militants as a result of strikes on enemy forces by combined firepower in the southern Donetsk area over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the southern Donetsk area, as many as 25 Ukrainian servicemen, an infantry fighting vehicle and two motor vehicles were destroyed as a result of damage inflicted on Ukrainian army units by combined firepower in areas near the settlements of Nikolskoye, Prechistovka and Novosyolka in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.
Fighter aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down a Ukrainian Su-27 plane in the Donetsk People’s Republic over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"Fighter aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 plane near the community of Popov Yar in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.
Russian troops destroyed two US-made counter-battery radars of the Ukrainian army in the Donetsk People’s Republic over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In addition, AN/TPQ-50 and AN/TPQ-36 counter-battery radar stations of US manufacture were destroyed in the areas of the towns of Artyomovsk and Dzerzhinsk," the spokesman said.
Russian troops also destroyed a Ukrainian Uragan rocket launcher near Kotovka in the Kharkov Region, two Ukrainian 2S7 Pion self-propelled cannons near Raigorodok in the Donetsk People’s Republic, a D-20 towed howitzer near Kolodezi in the Donetsk People’s Republic, two D-30 howitzers near Berestovoye in the Kharkov Region and Pobeda in the Donetsk People’s Republic and a 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer near Pavlovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the general specified.
Russian forces destroyed a US-made M777 howitzer in the Donetsk People’s Republic over the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the counter-battery warfare, an M777 artillery system of US manufacture was destroyed at firing positions near the community of Belogorovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.
Russian air defense forces intercepted five HIMARS and Olkha rockets in the past day, Konashenkov reported.
"In the past 24 hours, air defense capabilities intercepted five rockets of HIMARS and Olkha multiple launch rocket systems in areas near the communities of Debaltsevo and Yenakiyevo in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Kartamyshevo in the Lugansk People’s Republic," the spokesman said.
During the last 24-hour period, Russian air defense systems destroyed two Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the communities of Pavlovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Kremennaya in the Lugansk People’s Republic, and also shot down an American HARM anti-radar missile near the settlement of Bryanka in the Lugansk People’s Republic, the general added.
In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 371 Ukrainian warplanes, 200 helicopters, 2,868 unmanned aerial vehicles, 400 surface-to-air missile systems, 7,473 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 976 multiple rocket launchers, 3,809 field artillery guns and mortars and 8,006 special military motor vehicles since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, Konashenkov reported.
Newsweek/Reuters/RT/TASS
