Comparing international military aid for Kyiv since the start of Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine with Russia’s annual defense budget shows how Moscow is in a war not just with its neighbour, but also with its NATO allies, the Russian news agency Tass claimed.

The piece, published on Wednesday by the state news outlet, quotes Putin saying “the military potential and capabilities of practically all the main NATO countries are being actively used against Russia.”

Meanwhile, Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, said that Moscow is fighting not so much with the Ukrainian military as with the “collective West,” Tass reported in the article, which stated that the annual Russian military budget is $55.5 billion. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimate of Russia’s 2021 military budget published in April 2022 is $65.9 billion…

William Astore, a retired lieutenant colonel and ex-professor of history at the U.S. Air Force Academy, said without the Western military aid, including artillery, anti-tank and anti-air missiles, refurbished tanks, armored personnel carriers and ammunition, “there is no way Ukraine could have fought the Russian Army largely to a standstill.”

“Western military aid has created a stalemate in Ukraine,” Astore told Newsweek.

“Whether it will ultimately grant Ukraine a decisive edge depends on the willingness of the U.S. and NATO to continue supplying massive amounts of arms and ammo, together with the morale of Ukrainian forces and the willingness of Ukraine as a country to endure the brutal costs of war.

Read the full article here.

Western military aid has created a stalemate in Ukraine.

William Astore