From: imbibe@mindspring.com   
      
   Ukraine Quietly Receives Tanks From Czech Republic to Support War Effort   
   By Drew Hinshaw & Yaroslav Trofimov, Apr. 5, 2022, WSJ   
       
   Ukraine has captured 176 Russian tanks, 34 self-propelled artillery    
   pieces, 116 armored fighting vehicles, 149 infantry fighting vehicles,    
   23 multiple-rocket launchers, and 45 armored personnel carriers,    
   according to Oryx, an open-source intelligence blog that only counts    
   visual evidence of equipment capture. Many, if not most, of these    
   pieces—as well as a large number of Ukraine’s own tanks and fighting    
   vehicles—would need to be repaired before use.   
      
   Russia’s campaign of missile strikes across Ukraine has targeted in    
   particular the country’s defense industry, destroying facilities where    
   such repairs and refitting could take place—something that makes the    
   Czech and Slovak cooperation particularly valuable.   
      
   Western govts initially expected Kyiv to fall within a few days, and    
   equipped the Ukrainian military mostly with shoulder-fired missiles    
   such as NLAW, Javelin and Stinger that could be used by small insurgent    
   units. The Ukrainian military, however, has managed to prevail over    
   Russian forces around Kyiv in a large-scale conventional war, using    
   long-range artillery, tanks and aircraft. It is now trying to stop    
   Russia from advancing in the eastern Donbas region and to reclaim    
   Russian-occupied areas in the south of the country—missions that    
   President Zelensky has said would be impossible without a steady supply    
   of heavy weapons.   
      
   A donor’s conference of some 35 nations, convened by the U.K. in    
   London last week, agreed to supply Ukraine with long-range artillery,    
   antiaircraft systems and infantry fighting vehicles, but stopped short    
   of endorsing the transfer of tanks.   
      
   So far, the Czech Republic has sent slightly over a dozen modernized,    
   Soviet-designed T-72M tanks, said Czech defense ministry officials.    
   The Central European country has also sent howitzer artillery pieces    
   and BMP-1 amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine,    
   officials said.   
      
   These weapons supplies were funded by the Czech govt, and private    
   Czech donors who have chipped in to a government-backed crowdsourced    
   fundraising campaign to arm Ukraine. Officials on NATO’s eastern flank    
   generally worry that Western weapons and ammunition supply fall far    
   short of what Ukraine needs considering the intensity of the war. In    
   one day, Ukraine uses about as much weaponry as it receives in a week,    
   a senior Polish official said.   
      
   NATO countries are looking to supply additional and more-advanced    
   weapons systems, such as air-defense systems and U.S. Javelin antitank    
   weapons, the alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday.    
   He said allies are already supplying Kyiv with fuel, ammunition, helmets,    
   protective gear and medical supplies. NATO expects Russian troops to    
   make a big push in Ukraine’s southeast in coming weeks and wants to    
   quickly resupply Kyiv’s troops, Mr. Stoltenberg said.   
      
   Central European govts, with the notable exception of Hungary, are    
   broadly eager to help rearm Ukraine, but some officials are nervous    
   about depleting their own stockpiles of weapons and ammunition.   
      
   Several of those govts are turning to the Biden admin for assurances    
   that the U.S. will help replace equipment they are donating to Ukraine.    
   Czech supplies were reduced in 2014, when back to back explosions    
   destroyed two warehouses holding more than 150 tons of ammunition.    
   The government later blamed the blast on two agents from Russia’s    
   military intelligence service.   
      
   â€œMuch more, several times more, can be done if we join forces with    
   other allies,â€� said Czech Deputy Defense Minister Tomáš KopeÄ   
   ný.   
      
   Slovenia, avowedly supportive of Kyiv, has been sending available    
   military equipment to Ukraine from the beginning of the Russian    
   aggression, its Prime Minister Janez Jansa told the Journal, to a    
   point where it has run through its own stockpiles.   
      
   â€œIf France, Germany or U.S. sent the same share per capita, Ukraine    
   is already liberated,â€� he said. “Unfortunately, our reserves are    
   depleted and now we try to replace equipment…with new delivery from    
   U.S.,â€� he said. “Unfortunately, all procedures were slow, but [have]    
   accelerated somehow after Bucha massacre.â€�   
      
   Moscow has warned that it considers arms shipments legitimate targets.    
   So far, however, it hasn’t been able to choke off the daily military    
   shipments to Ukraine from Poland, Romania or Slovakia. Russia’s air    
   force, so far, also hasn’t demonstrated the capacity to disrupt    
   military convoys between the border and front-line staging areas.   
      
   Poland, the staging ground for most of the weaponry going into    
   Ukraine, also has a large collection of T-72 tanks, and is expecting    
   a fresh delivery of 250 American Abrams tanks. Asked if Warsaw would    
   provide the Soviet-designed tanks, Jakub Kumoch, the head of the    
   International Policy Bureau in President Andrzej Duda’s office said,    
   â€œEvery conversation regarding whatever support for Ukraine is a    
   conversation taking place between Poland and its closest allies,    
   taking into account the needs of Ukraine and taking into account the    
   aspiration to end as quickly as possible the war.â€�   
      
   One road has been effectively closed off to NATO weapon shipments,    
   however: the route through Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban    
   was re-elected Sunday after vowing to block NATO from using his country    
   to transport weapons to Ukraine.   
      
   Australia said this week it is flying Bushmaster armored vehicles to    
   Europe for delivery to Ukraine, with the first four already painted    
   in Ukrainian colors.   
      
   Beyond tanks, Central European govts, including the Czech Republic,    
   are weighing the risks of letting Ukraine bring war-damaged equipment    
   into their countries for repairs. Slovakia, which has no tanks available    
   to give, has discussed the issue, a senior Slovak official said.   
      
   Those deliberations are part of a realization that Russia’s war with    
   Ukraine could drag on for months if not longer—and that, in a war of    
   attrition, Russia’s overwhelming advantage in equipment could tilt    
   the scales in Moscow’s favor.   
      
   â€œIf the war is going to get longer and longer, the war equipment    
   that is being damaged needs to get serviced,â€� said a Czech defense    
      
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