The West can no longer pretend that peace in Ukraine can be established through negotiations. Not after Russia killed 57 innocent residents of Kramatorsk at a railway station with a missile.. Any agreements will only legitimize Russian control over Ukrainian territory. This is unacceptable. Ukraine should be the winner. And any tool in the world should document this fact..

Paula Dobriansky, former Undersecretary of State for Global Policy, and Richard Levin, former US Navy First Deputy Secretary of State for Technology Transfer and Military Assistance, write about this in an article for the Wall Street Journal..

In war, geography determines tactics. Ukrainian forces had an important advantage when the battles continued in the cities. Small and highly mobile groups, armed with portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, inflicted irreparable losses on Russia. After failing to conquer Kyiv, Vladimir Putin focused on two other battles. One of them is for control over the Donbass, and the other is for establishing a land connection between this region and occupied Crimea, which will also cut Ukraine off from access to the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov.. The authors note that Donetsk and Lugansk regions are rich in energy resources. And Putin will gladly take over their gas and coal reserves..

For Ukraine to be able to resist Russian attempts to establish its control over the Donbas, NATO must provide it with tanks, self-propelled howitzers, multiple launch rocket systems, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers. The Czech Republic has already transferred its Soviet combat vehicles and tanks. This is an important show of solidarity. But this technique was developed back in the 1960s and is practically antique..

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Therefore, NATO must act in stages. First, the alliance should send heavy weapons to Ukraine, which the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be able to use almost immediately: either after short training sessions, or without them at all.. Secondly, it is necessary to provide Ukraine with armored vehicles as soon as possible, as well as training packages that will allow its army to use new weapons quickly.. American or British tanks with composite armor and improved guidance systems will be vital if the war drags on..

Integrated ground and air operations will be critical to Ukraine's victory. Reconnaissance drones are good, but fighter jets are a must. The Ukrainian army needs the MiG-29 or other fourth-generation combat aircraft right now. According to the official US position, MiG-29s cannot simply fly from a NATO base in Germany to Ukrainian territory.. So NATO needs to find ways to get these fighters through using decoys and digital deception so Russia doesn't see anything..

You will also need anti-ship missiles like the American Harpoon. They will help prevent the Kremlin from connecting Crimea and Donbass. The Russian fleet must not be allowed to use the Black and Azov Seas for attacks against port cities on the Ukrainian coast.. Also, these missiles will help to destroy any plans of Moscow for the sea landing of troops and equipment..

Faced with heavy losses, Russia began attacking civilians.. Ukraine needs protection against medium-range ballistic missiles. S-300 systems may not be up to the task.. But Patriot batteries can intercept ballistic missiles.. As for Russian short-range missiles, the SAMP-T anti-aircraft missile systems used by France and Italy can deal with this threat..

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Putin's brutality is designed to demoralize the Ukrainian population. NATO must increase its humanitarian aid immediately. US Sealift Command may send two hospital ships to the region, including a Romanian port. Each of these ships has 1,000 hospital beds and is protected from attacks by an international convention that Russia also signed.. Also, these floating hospitals can provide medical assistance to Russians trapped in Ukrainian captivity..

The West and Ukraine share the concept of freedom based on the inalienable rights of people. Can't let any tyrannical force break this bond. Putin invaded Ukraine to destroy the identity of its people. Joseph Stalin tried to do the same with the help of the Holodomor in 1932-1933, the victims of which were about 10 million Ukrainians.. Such catastrophes became decisive for the 20th century.. We cannot allow them to become decisive for the 21st.

Earlier, CNN wrote that the next key battle of the Russian-Ukrainian war will be the battle for Slovyansk.. Since the city is of key strategic importance. If the enemy can take control of him, he will have the opportunity to cordon off the Ukrainian army in the Donbass.

In turn, the New York Times wrote that the battle for Donbass would be extremely fierce.. It will be very different from the fighting in the vicinity of Kyiv, Kharkov and Sumy. Because here the enemy knows the area better. And its supply chains are shorter.