Ukraine battling Russia with one hand tied behind backs. US must send more weapons |Opinion
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John Kerezy is an associate professor of journalism and media studies at Cuyahoga Community College.
With no provocation, suppose a much bigger and stronger person starts battering you in a street brawl. Many observers expect the enemy to knock you out with just a couple of punches. But you not only withstand those first blows, you counterattack and do remarkably well in the fight.
As a result, outsiders step in and force you continue fighting with one hand tied behind your back. Would that be fair?
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That’s what the Biden Administration is doing right now to our ally Ukraine. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urgently requested dozens of U.S. artillery rocket systems, such as the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System. Zelenskyy has pledged to use these weapons for defensive purposes only, to repel Russian invaders.
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Yet the Biden Administration so far has provided just four such systems to Ukraine. This is despite dozens of reports from front-line journalists covering Russia’s brutal attacks that invading forces have a 15-to-1 advantage in artillery.
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We shouldn’t expect an ally to keep on absorbing 15 artillery poundings for every single attack it can muster.
If Ukraine succeeds in this war, we won’t have to consider sending America’s most precious treasure, our young military men and women, to stop Russian aggression in Poland or elsewhere in Eastern Europe in the future.
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Providing High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and Multiple Launch Rocket Systems to the Ukrainian military gives Ukraine a fair chance of continuing to fight excellently and to repel Russia and its brutal army.
The best way to stop Russia’s aggression is to expedite shipping large quantities of these weapons systems to Ukraine right away, and to expeditiously train its soldiers on how to use them.
A bipartisan quartet of U.S. senators, Rob Portman (R-OH), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), have asked Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to ship these high-tech systems and more ammunition to Ukraine immediately. Congress has already appropriated the funds.
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In their letter to Secretary Austin, these senators write that “the outcome of Russia’s war against Ukraine will hinge on how firmly the West supports Ukrainian forces.”
Their assessment is correct. Now’s the time to send this critical aid that can change the tide of battle in Eastern Ukraine. Let’s untie Ukraine’s hands.
John Kerezy is an associate professor of journalism and media studies at Cuyahoga Community College.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Opinion: US must send more advanced weapons to Ukraine
