The assistant Minister of defense on Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Michael carpenter said that Washington does not deliver Kiev lethal weapons, as the task of the American military Department — first “to teach the Ukrainian forces to make them more efficient”. About it the representative of the Pentagon said in an interview with radio station “Voice of America”.
Carpenter, answering the question of why Washington does not provide the Ukrainian army with lethal weapons, said that “to separate the help categories — lethal and non-lethal — is not quite right”. “Our goal is to teach Ukrainian forces make them more efficient and later are compatible with NATO standards”, — he stressed, noting that for a long time the Armed forces of Ukraine “have been significantly weakened by corruption, poor command, lack of resources”.
The Pentagon spokesman also said that from the beginning of the conflict in the Donbass, the United States has provided Kiev military aid to $ 265 million. “The funds were spent on drills and on different equipment — from radar to night vision devices, radios, vehicles and patrol boats, and the like,” added carpenter.
In December 2015 in response to the accusations of the Ukrainian military that the USA is supplying Kiev with outdated equipment, the commander of U.S. land forces in Europe Lieutenant General Ben Hodges said that part of the military equipment could be old, but mainly the Pentagon supplies to Kiev.
Earlier in the same month, The Washington Post reported that some non-lethal weapons that the US gave the Ukraine was a real “scrap metal” and are not suitable for use. In particular, were out of service several SUVs “Hummer”, transferred to the Ukrainian forces. In addition, according to the newspaper, the Pentagon gave the Ukrainian military body armor that the U.S. army stopped using in the mid 2000-ies.
The armed conflict in the Donbas began in April 2014, after Kiev authorities announced the start of anti-terrorist operation (ATO) — as in Kiev called an attempt of forceful suppression of protests in Donetsk and Lugansk regions caused by the change of power in Ukraine.
