Before a notorious phone call, the Trump administration was lauded for helping Ukraine by SeanDNaylor & JennaMC_Laugh
This was underlined by Thursday’s announcement that the State Department had approved the sale of almost $40 million worth of Javelin antitank missiles and launchers to Ukraine, which follows an earlier shipment of Javelins in early 2018.
Obama’s decision not to supply Javelins to Ukraine followed “a vigorous and ongoing debate” within his administration on the issue, said Tony Blinken, who served as deputy national security adviser from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secretary of state from 2015 to 2017. “It was something we came back to repeatedly,” said Blinken in an interview on Yahoo News’ “Skullduggery” podcast, adding that he had argued in favor of sending the Javelins.
Trump made that decision in December 2017, including the missiles as part of a larger aid package. The official announcement did not specifically mention Javelins and was released just prior to Christmas. “We wanted to give them the aid, but we didn’t want it to be a big news story,” said the U.S. official who worked on Ukraine issues.
This was a condition of the deal to give the Javelins to Ukraine in the first place, according to the U.S. official who worked on Ukraine issues, who said the Javelins were provided on the condition that Ukrainians not use them against Russian forces on the largely static frontlines in the Donbass region. Rather, the missiles are to be kept in reserve as “a deterrent” against any further Russian incursion into Ukrainian territory, the official said.
In any case, the Javelin is more suitable for defensive purposes, according to retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, who commanded U.S. Army Europe between November 2014 and December 2017. The Javelin is “the best man-portable antitank system in the world,” Hodges said. However, he added, “it’s not an ideal weapon if you decided to launch an attack somewhere.
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